Japan bans pork imports from Britain after foot-and-mouth outbreak

Tokyo, Aug. 4:

Japan has banned British pork imports following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in southern England, the Agriculture Ministry said Saturday.

The ban was imposed in response to a notice from the British government of the outbreak earlier Saturday, the ministry said in a statement.

Japan imported just 5 tons of pork from Britain in the year to April 2007, according to government figures, and the impact of the ban is expected to have a limited impact on Japanese consumers.

Japan consumes about 1.6 million tons of pork each year, half of which comes from imports, according to the Agriculture Ministry. The U.S., Denmark and Canada account for 80 percent of the import total, the ministry said.

The highly infectious disease was confirmed Friday on a cattle farm southwest of London. It affects cows, horses, sheep and pigs, but does not harm humans.

Japan has already banned beef imports from Britain since the outbreak of mad cow disease in that country.