Bird flu crisis hits Japanese food industry

TOKYO – Bird flu outbreaks across Asia are hitting the Japanese food industry hard, with now-banned Chinese and Thai chicken imports accounting for 17 per cent of domestic poultry consumption.

On Tuesday, five days after it banned Thai imports, the Japanese government suspended poultry shipments from China as Beijing confirmed an outbreak of the lethal strain of H5N1 bird flu sweeping across Asia. The move shocked food processing companies as well as restaurant chains who have been looking to replace beef on their menus since the US confirmation of a case of mad cow disease led to a ban on US beef imports.A spokesman at Japan’s top frozen food maker Nichirei said on Wednesday the import ban is “a severe blow”, noting that quite a lot of the poultry it uses comes from Thailand and China.”It costs more to use domestically grown chicken,” he said, adding that it is “hard to predict” how the situation will develop as the import ban is likely to continue for at least 90 days.China and Thailand supply almost all of the processed poultry products used in popular dishes here such as “yakitori” skewered grilled chicken.Japan’s biggest beef-bowl restaurant chain, Yoshinoya D and C, introduced a ‘yakitori bowl’ as an alternative offering this month following the mad cow ban on imports of American beef.The yakitori bowl has proved quite popular among the new menus but the chicken used in it is 80 percent Chinese and 20 percent Thai, a Yoshinoya spokesman said.”We have not decided on what to do” over future chicken procurement, he said, adding the company still had poultry stockpiles for several weeks.Nippon Suisan Kaisha, a leading frozen food producer, uses 7 000-8 000 tons of poultry a year, nearly all of which comes from China.”We will procure chicken from other suppliers if possible … but we do not know if it will be from Japan or other countries,” a company spokesman said.Nippon Suisan had planned to increase production at two factories in Beijing just after it put off the March start of operations at a Thai factory due to the bird flu outbreak there.”Now it seems we will have to stop operations at the Chinese plant as well,” the company spokesman said.”As the food industry has also been dealt a blow by mad cow disease, it may become unable to find alternative beef or chicken supplies … making such products disappear from the market,” he warned.A Brazilian farm mission called on Japan to switch to importing its meat from the Latin American giant food exporter which is not hit by the bird flu outbreak.”Brazil’s position is now increasingly important following the outbreak in Asia,” said a spokesman for the mission, including senior farm ministry officials.”Brazil is ready to supply sufficient quantities of chicken for Japan”.Around 46 per cent of the chicken nuggets at the Japanese unit of US hamburger chain McDonald’s are from China and 37 per cent from Thailand.”We import chicken nuggets in a (ready-to-serve) processed form and have already placed orders for US and Mexican products” to replace Thai and Chinese ones, spokesman Shoji Mizutani said.”We made the orders yesterday but it is still uncertain (the products) will clear customs and arrive by mid-February” when current chicken nugget stockpiles are expected to run out, he said.While imposing an outright ban on imports from some countries over mad cow disease or bird flu, Japanese companies are still allowed to sell stockpiles unless they are considered separately to be dangerous.Mizutani noted that it was strange to ban something that is essentially the same as one still being sold.”I hope clearer safety standards will be given in the course of the debate among consumers (and) countries,” he said.- Nampa-AFPThe move shocked food processing companies as well as restaurant chains who have been looking to replace beef on their menus since the US confirmation of a case of mad cow disease led to a ban on US beef imports. A spokesman at Japan’s top frozen food maker Nichirei said on Wednesday the import ban is “a severe blow”, noting that quite a lot of the poultry it uses comes from Thailand and China. “It costs more to use domestically grown chicken,” he said, adding that it is “hard to predict” how the situation will develop as the import ban is likely to continue for at least 90 days. China and Thailand supply almost all of the processed poultry products used in popular dishes here such as “yakitori” skewered grilled chicken. Japan’s biggest beef-bowl restaurant chain, Yoshinoya D and C, introduced a ‘yakitori bowl’ as an alternative offering this month following the mad cow ban on imports of American beef. The yakitori bowl has proved quite popular among the new menus but the chicken used in it is 80 percent Chinese and 20 percent Thai, a Yoshinoya spokesman said. “We have not decided on what to do” over future chicken procurement, he said, adding the company still had poultry stockpiles for several weeks. Nippon Suisan Kaisha, a leading frozen food producer, uses 7 000-8 000 tons of poultry a year, nearly all of which comes from China. “We will procure chicken from other suppliers if possible … but we do not know if it will be from Japan or other countries,” a company spokesman said. Nippon Suisan had planned to increase production at two factories in Beijing just after it put off the March start of operations at a Thai factory due to the bird flu outbreak there. “Now it seems we will have to stop operations at the Chinese plant as well,” the company spokesman said. “As the food industry has also been dealt a blow by mad cow disease, it may become unable to find alternative beef or chicken supplies … making such products disappear from the market,” he warned. A Brazilian farm mission called on Japan to switch to importing its meat from the Latin American giant food exporter which is not hit by the bird flu outbreak. “Brazil’s position is now increasingly important following the outbreak in Asia,” said a spokesman for the mission, including senior farm ministry officials. “Brazil is ready to supply sufficient quantities of chicken for Japan”. Around 46 per cent of the chicken nuggets at the Japanese unit of US hamburger chain McDonald’s are from China and 37 per cent from Thailand. “We import chicken nuggets in a (ready-to-serve) processed form and have already placed orders for US and Mexican products” to replace Thai and Chinese ones, spokesman Shoji Mizutani said. “We made the orders yesterday but it is still uncertain (the products) will clear customs and arrive by mid-February” when current chicken nugget stockpiles are expected to run out, he said. While imposing an outright ban on imports from some countries over mad cow disease or bird flu, Japanese companies are still allowed to sell stockpiles unless they are considered separately to be dangerous. Mizutani noted that it was strange to ban something that is essentially the same as one still being sold. “I hope clearer safety standards will be given in the course of the debate among consumers (and) countries,” he said. – Nampa-AFP

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