Japan Poultry Firms Resume Shipment - JAPAN - Poultry producers in Kyoto Prefecture began shipping their products Tuesday morning, several hours after the Kyoto prefectural government declared an end to the avian influenza outbreak that began at Asada Nosan's Funai Farm in Tanbacho in the prefecture late February.

At a roadside market in Tanbacho, about 180 locally produced eggs were on sale for the first time in 46 days. Mitsuru Matsutani, a poultry farmer in the town who delivered 120 eggs to the market, said, "I'm happy to be able to meet consumers' expectations." Haruko Suchi, who lives near the market, bought some of the eggs and said, "I felt something was missing without local eggs at the market."

Kyoto Gov. Keiji Yamada and Tanbacho Mayor Yoshio Yokoyama visited Takada chicken farm Tuesday, where chickens were believed to have caught a secondary infection of the flu and about 14,000 chickens were slaughtered to prevent an epidemic. Yamada informed the farm's owner, Kenshiro Takada, about the end of the outbreak, adding, "I hope you can resume your business as early as possible."

Naoki Okada, who sells chicken meat in Kyoto, said sales had declined by about 70 percent because of the outbreak. "I believe it will take time to revive sales," he added, "but I want to offer Kyoto chickens to customers with as much confidence as I did before."

A consumer association in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, distributed about 48,000 free eggs. They were produced by the Himeji-based Asada Nosan poultry producing firm, owner of Funai Farm in Tanbacho, the source of the first outbreak. About 1,200 people lined up before 9:30 a.m., when the distribution was scheduled to begin. All the eggs were given away within an hour.

Source: eFeedLink - 14th April 2004