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last update:Aug 1, 2008
Japan suspends Chilean pork imports
Chile has called the Japanese ambassador in Santiago
to express concern over the nation's decision to suspend imports of Chilean pork
for alleged sanitary reasons.
Japan argued that shipments were temporarily suspended following the Korean
government ban on Chilean pork imports due to dioxin being detected in one
package. This is not the case for Japan
however.
QuarantineSouth Korea's national quarantine
service two weeks ago ordered a recall of Chilean pork that may have been
contaminated with dioxin after finding a package with a higher than permitted
level of the toxic compound. This resulted in the Chilean Health Department
quarantining six pork plants to investigate the high level claims. Dioxin is
linked to chlorine and can be harmful for human health.
Pork is a growing
industry in Chile and Japan is the country's third most important market having
acquired last year 33% of total production involving a turnover of 127 million
US dollars. In March 2007 Japan and Chile signed a free trade agreement which
cut Japanese import tariffs (70%) on Chilean imports, including pork.
InspectionsThe Agriculture Ministry has started
detailed inspections of all pork shipments from Chile to make certain that
tainted meat does not reach consumers. Chile is the second-largest exporter of
pork to South Korea after the United States.
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