China toughens control on live poultry trade markets
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-28 16:28
China will restrict the number of live poultry markets and will gradually
move them away from urban areas in large and medium-size cities in a renewed
effort to combat the bird flu.
The State Council, in a newly-issued
document, asked local governments to ban the construction of new live poultry
markets in the country's urban areas.
Live poultry trading areas must be
separated from other farming products in the marketplace in both the cities and
countryside, and separate exits and entrances must be established, according to
the document.
Marketplaces that fail to comply with the requirements
must rectify their operation within a prescribed time limit, or they will be
closed by relevant government departments.
The State Council also
demanded veterinary inspection agencies at various levels to intensify their
monitoring and quarantine of poultry products to insure no uncertified poultry
products enter the market.
About 47,000 poultry birds were culled in ten
outbreaks of bird flu in seven provinces on the Chinese mainland this year,
according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Thirteen people have been
infected with the bird flu this year. There were seven last
year.
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