EU accepts poultry from Chinese state

The lifting of the ban on 5 August applies just to China’s Shandong province. However, this is reportedly China’s largest producer of poultry meat – 10% of China’s total poultry meat produced came from Shandong in 2006.

The European Commission’s decision, which covers “meat products consisting of, or containing meat of poultry”, is the first “watering down” of a ban applied in February 2004 to protect Europeans from AI.

EU authorities are now said to be satisfied that the several thousand poultry producers in Shandong are treating poultry meat at the heat required to ensure the virus does not spread.