Japan bans European pork over foot-and-mouth disease

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010307a7.htm

 

Japan bans European pork over foot-and-mouth disease

 

Japan has banned imports of pork and pork products from France, Belgium and

Northern Ireland following suspected outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease

there, farm ministry officials said Tuesday.

 

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry ceased issuing quarantine

certifications for pork and processed pork products such as sausage, bacon

and ham from Northern Ireland on Friday and France and Belgium on Sunday.

 

The ministry on Monday banned imports of Danish pork, which accounts for

about 30 percent of total pork imports, but then lifted it Tuesday after

receiving reports from Denmark that pigs there had tested negative for the

disease.

 

Since the disease is highly contagious, the ministry took precautionary

measures by banning the imports prior to receiving confirmation that the

animals were infected, the officials said.

 

Japan has banned imports of pork from Britain since August following an

outbreak of swine flu. Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth have been reported in

Britain in the past few weeks, leading to fears that it will spread across

Europe.

 

The number of confirmed infected sites in Britain, where 67,000 animals have

already been slaughtered in a desperate bid to stamp out the disease, rose

from 52 to 69 on Sunday.

 

Japan imported 650,000 tons of pork in 2000, of which 274,000 tons came from

the European Union.

 

The Japan Times: Mar. 7, 2001

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