SEJONG: South Korea plans to resume importing chickens from North America in November after no new outbreaks of bird flu have been reported in the region in recent months, the government said Wednesday.
The farm ministry said it has revised regions subject to restrictions and took both the United States and Canada off its import ban list. Imports should resume around the middle of the month following a due administrative process.
The country started to ban imports of all meats from chickens and ducks, as well as other birds, after the U.S. and Canada reported outbreaks of the virulent H5N8 and H5N2 strains of avian influenza last year. It has also barred live chickens, ducks, turkeys and parrots raised in these countries from entering South Korea.
The ban went into effect in December 2014, although meat heated to over 70 degrees C for more than 30 minutes was not subject to the ban. The ministry said it reached its latest decision as no new outbreaks have been reported for some time, with monitoring of poultry farms showing no signs of sick birds. Once imports resume, the ministry said demand for U.S. chicken meat is expected to rise.
Last year, Asia’s fourth-largest economy imported 66,780 tons of chicken meat from the U.S., accounting for 53.8 percent of all imports that stood at 124,089 tons. South Korea did not import chicken meat from Canada in 2014 although it brought in 68 tons of duck down feathers.
