Avian flu: Japan suspends chicken imports from SC – 07/17/2023 – Market

Japan has temporarily suspended imports of live poultry and poultry meat from Santa Catarina after the confirmation of an avian flu case in subsistence production in the state, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock said on Monday (17).

The ministry stated that the suspension is valid until detailed information about the case is forwarded to the Japanese authorities, which the folder says it has already done.

Monthly shipments of chicken meat from units in Santa Catarina to Japan represent less than 3% of the total exported by Brazil, according to the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA). The country is the world’s largest exporter of chicken meat.

The measure comes after the state identified, on Saturday, cases of avian influenza in a backyard creation, for subsistence, in Maracajá. On the property, which was banned, there were multiple species of birds, such as chicken, guinea fowl, pheasant, goose, duck, partridge and turkey, the ministry said in a statement.

Santa Catarina is the second largest chicken meat processor in the country, after Paraná. All major Brazilian food exporters have factories in the state.

Last month, Japan halted purchases of poultry from Espírito Santo after a case of avian flu at a non-commercial farm in the state, a major egg producer.

The ABPA said this Monday (17th) that Brazil does not have any record of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (IAAP) in industrial production and that backyard records do not change the country’s status as free of Avian Influenza. This position was also reiterated by the ministry.

The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Carlos Fávaro, will lead an official delegation that will meet with Japanese authorities in Tokyo, next week, with the aim of “adjusting the requirements for importing poultry and their products to WHOA guidelines” , said the briefcase.

ABPA said it hoped that part of the impact of the suspension imposed would be absorbed by other refrigerating units also qualified to export, located in other states, according to a note signed together with the Associação Catarinense de Poultry and the Union of the Industry of Meat and Derivatives in the State of Santa Catarina. Catherine.

Bans, whether regional or national, would apply, but only if the highly pathogenic virus reaches a commercial farm, and that has yet to happen in Brazil, according to officials.

Brazil first confirmed HPAI outbreaks among wild birds on May 15 and has since recorded dozens of similar outbreaks in at least seven states.