The US House of Representatives earlier this month passed the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008. It stipulates that "none of the funds made available in this Act may be used to establish or implement a rule allowing poultry products to be imported into the United States from the People's Republic of China."

Without permits from certain rules, Chinese poultry products could have no access to the US market.

"The act not only undermines the joint efforts by the Chinese and US governments in the past three years to boost meat trade, but also reflects discrimination against the Chinese poultry industry," the poultry sub-chamber of the China Chamber of Commerce of Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-products told China Daily yesterday.

China is the largest meat producer in the world and the second largest poultry producer after the United States.

Source: People's Daily Online