US Ban French Processed Meat On Hygiene Concerns
US - The United States banned imports of all French processed meat and poultry products, including cold cuts and delicacies like foie gras on Tuesday, as the meat did not comply with the US hygiene standards.
25 February 2004
3 minute read
"All the country's quarantined or 'red zones' have already been reduced to observation or 'yellow zones', which the government expect to be declared as safe or 'green zones' over the next 21 days", Somkid said.
However, Somkid warned local officials to closely monitor the situation to prevent another outbreaks.
Somkid said he had ordered the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to conduct a sample inspection on all bird flu-affected areas again in early next month. Should the officials complete the 21-day quarantine, and find no disease in the areas, he would report a progress in the outbreak control to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
"Now, all control areas in the country have already declared the vigilant zones. But to prevent recklessness, we need to closely monitor and oversee the affected areas all the time", he said.
The deputy premier added that he was confident Japan would resume the import of cooked chickens from Thailand soon following the inspection by its health officials on the vigilance areas.
Once Japan resumed the cooked chicken import, he believed, other countries would follow suit because Japan is considered the country with the high hygiene standard of imports.
Source: eFeedLink - 26th February 2004
