Tokyo | Reuters –– Japan’s farm ministry on Friday partially lifted a ban on imports of live poultry and poultry meat from Canada and the U.S. following an outbreak of bird flu.
Imports from British Columbia and from eight U.S. states — Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, Kansas, Arkansas, Montana and Indiana — will resume after restrictions were imposed for nearly nine months, the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries said in a statement.
After the latest measure, restrictions on live poultry and poultry meat still remain in place for Ontario and seven U.S. states — Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska — pending local checks by Japanese officials, a ministry official said.
Separately, a ban is imposed on imports from New Jersey of live poultry and poultry meat, shipped from within a 10-km radius of farms where low-pathogenic avian flu was discovered, the official added.
— Reporting for Reuters by Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo.
