BEIJING (Reuters) – China has prohibited imports of sheep, goat, poultry and even-toed ungulates from African, Asian and European countries due to outbreaks of livestock diseases such as sheep pox, goat pox and foot-and-mouth-disease. The ban, which also includes processed and unprocessed products, comes after the World Organisation for Animal Health released information of disease […]
Health
China bans livestock product imports from numerous countries on disease worries
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BEIJING (Reuters) – China has prohibited imports of sheep, goat, poultry and even-toed ungulates from African, Asian and European countries due to outbreaks of livestock diseases such as sheep pox, goat pox and foot-and-mouth-disease.
The ban, which also includes processed and unprocessed products, comes after the World Organisation for Animal Health released information of disease outbreaks in various countries, according to a series of announcements by China’s General Administration of Customs dated Jan. 21.
The ban by the world’s largest meat importer affects Ghana, Somalia, Qatar, Congo (DRC), Nigeria, and Tanzania, Egypt, Bulgaria, East Timor and Eritrea.
China also said it has stopped imports of sheep, goat and related products from the occupied Palestinian territories as well as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bangladesh due to sheep pox and goat pox outbreaks.
It also blocked the imports of even-toed ungulates and related products from Germany following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, it said.
(This Jan. 27 story has been corrected to fix the attribution to World Organisation for Animal Health, instead of World Health Organization, in paragraph 2)
(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Christian Schmollinger)