Home Foreign Policy China Suspends Poultry Imports From Tyson

China Suspends Poultry Imports From Tyson

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--FILE--Chinese workers process chicken at a food processing plant of Shandong Tyson Xinchang Foods Co., Ltd., owned by Tyson Foods, in Rizhao city, east Chinas Shandong province, 14 July 2011. Even if the end of summer is in sight, the salad days at Tyson Foods are far from over. Shares of Tyson, one of the worlds largest chicken producers by sales, have risen 53% so far this year after essentially moving sideways during 2011 and 2012. The reasons are twofold. Pork and beef have recently traded near record levels, making chicken more attractive because it is a cheaper protein. At the same time, there has been a shortage of supply, in part because an Avian Flu outbreak in Mexico caused a surge in demand for hens to repopulate farms south of the border. And Tyson isnt only focused on the U.S. It has a huge opportunity in China, where food scares have made consumers and restaurants eager to purchase high-quality chicken. Tyson expects to produce 50% of its own birds in China by the end of this fiscal year and approach 100% by the end of fiscal 2014.

The General Administration of Customs said on its website it had decided on the suspension after the company confirmed it had detected the coronavirus at the plant, which carries the registration number of P5842.

The plant is located in Springdale, Arizona, according to a customs file of registered exporters.

Tyson confirmed to Reuters that it had detected a “cluster” of coronavirus cases at the plant in recent days.

China also suspended pork products from German pork processor Toennies last week following a coronavirus outbreak among hundreds of its workers.

China has stepped up its oversight of imported foods after a new cluster of coronavirus cases were linked to a sprawling wholesale food market in the capital just over a week ago.

Beijing began testing meat, seafood and fresh produce for the coronavirus last week and some ports were opening all containers of meat to carry out coronavirus tests.

On Friday, customs asked food exporters to sign a declaration that their produce is not contaminated by the novel coronavirus.

Imports of U.S. poultry have surged since China ended an almost five-year ban on the trade in November 2019.

via newsmax

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