China says that Britain has voluntarily suspended pork exports from plant with a COVID-19 outbreak
China reports that exports from a UK pork plant have been voluntarily suspended after reporting a novel coronavirus outbreak.
23 June 2020
2 minute read
By: According to Reuters, China, the world’s largest meat importer, says that pork exports from Britain’s Tulip pork plant in the West Midlands have been voluntarily suspended following cases of COVID-19 at the site.
News of the suspension came from a statement posted on China’s Customs Weibo social media account.
Many meat exporting nations, such as Brazil and the United States, have seen thousands of cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, among workers in meat plants.
China has stepped up inspections of meat imports after a new cluster of virus infections in Beijing was linked to the capital's huge Xinfadi wholesale food market.
Beijing has started testing meat, seafood and fresh produce, with some major Chinese ports opening all meat and seafood containers for virus tests.
Last week, Chinese customs asked food exporters for signed declarations that their produce was free of virus contamination.
China's meat imports in the first five months of 2020 soared 73.4 percent on the year to 3.85 million tonnes.
The world's top pork consumer imported a monthly record volume of 400,000 tonnes in April as domestic output plunged after an outbreak of African swine fever hit its pig herd in late 2018.
