The US and Japan banned imports of poultry from Canada

The US and Japan have issued a temporary ban on poultry imports from Canada after bird flu was discovered on a duck in British Columbia.

The Japanese ban was announced by an Agriculture Ministry official on November 22 while the US ban was issued yesterday and also announced by the Ministry of Agriculture. Taiwan and Hong Kong authorities also said they would act similarly.

Japan regularly imports half of the poultry from countries that have reported bird flu. Last year, Japan imported 84 tons of poultry from Canada. Japanese chicken consumption reached 1.62 million tons in 2004/2005, of which 371,000 tons of poultry were imported from countries.

The ban was issued after the weekend, the Canadian Food Watch Agency said the test results confirmed that a British Columbia duck of this country had bird flu, then the government said it will destroy about 60,000 poultry to prevent spreading the disease.

Geese in Canada.The government said it would destroy about 60,000 poultry to prevent spreading the disease

T.VY (According to AP, Reuters)