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Following the announcement earlier this week that the US has recognised formally GB’s FMD free status and exports can restart, Russia has followed suit allowing British pig meat to be imported.

In the meantime, Japan has lifted its ban on imports of French pig meat, imposed in March 2001 following the outbreak of FMD in the EU. The lifting of the ban was postponed due to the discovery of CSF in the Moselle area of France in April 2002. Before the ban was imposed, Japan imported 23,5000 tonnes of pigmeat annually from France.

MLC Brussels office has held further conversation with ALIC (Japanese equivalent of MLC & RPA). Their view remains that this issue will still take several months to resolve. Nevertheless, it was agreed that a visit to Japan by an industry delegation would be useful in improving the understanding of the Japanese authorities.

The aim of the visit will be to brief Japanese industry organisations and Japanese MAF officials about the complete safety of British pigmeat after FMD.

Source: Meat and Livestock Commission - 24th December 2002