BANGKOK, April 4 – The European Union’s decision to lift import restrictions on fresh poultry from Thailand benefits the Thai poultry industry as other countries such as Japan are likely to follow suit, according to the sector’s leading exporter.
The ban, in place since an avian flu outbreak in 2004, will end July 1 after health experts endorsed a recommendation from the European Commission.
Adirek Sripratak, President and Chief Executive Office of Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), said Thailand will be the second country after Brazil to be allowed to export fresh poultry to other countries around the globe.
He said poultry producers and chicken exporters must implement rigorous measures to control their product quality to be widely accepted although there has been no disease found in Thailand for several years.
They must continue surveillance to prevent contamination by germs such as salmonella as importers give strict emphasis to health standards in products.
