A ban imposed by Switzerland on chicken imports from China has been
lifted after seven months.
Swiss officials cited the positive action taken by the Chinese to
prevent antibiotic residue from finding its way into poultry as the
grounds for lifting the embargo.
"We've had the ban for a short time on several establishments from
China... where we found antibiotic problems," said Urs Zimmerli, an
official at the Swiss Federal Veterinary Office.
Switzerland had hit specific poultry producers in China with bans
with the last one being lifted on June 20, Zimmerli said from Bern
in a telephone interview.
China's General Administration of Quality Supervision and
Quarantine confirmed Thursday that Switzerland fully resumed
imports of poultry products from China on Tuesday.
The European country suspended imports of chicken and chicken
products from China on February 8, claiming Chinese poultry
products exceeded approved levels of antibiotics, according to Xu
Bing of the Chinese quarantine agency.
China argued the suspension was unreasonable. The suspension was
then partially lifted on April 3, according to Xu.
Chinese quarantine authorities will maintain strict inspections on
the quality of poultry to be exported, and will make sure exporters
further improve their internal management and quality controls, Xu
said.
(China
Daily July 5, 2002)