South Korea: Imports of heat-treated frozen duck meat from China increased; origin verification required

Recently, imports of heat-treated frozen duck meat from China appear to have increased significantly, calling for special caution from consumers, such as checking the country of origin of smoked duck. The Korea Duck Association said that the import volume of heat-treated duck meat from China has decreased due to a shortage of domestic duck meat supply due to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) that has occurred in Korea for five consecutive years and quarantine measures such as restrictions on breeding, movement, and stocking of ducklings on duck farms in winter. It was stated that due to the significant increase, special caution from consumers is required. In the case of China, a country where highly pathogenic AI occurs regularly, only heat-processed poultry meat can be imported into the country, and the amount of imports, which was normally about 5,000 tons per year, hit an all-time high of 10,378 tons last year. This is an increase of about 30% compared to the previous ...