China orders halt to red meat imports from several Australian meatworks
China has temporarily banned beef imports from six Australian meatworks, the Federal Government has confirmed.
Australia was made aware of the ban on Tuesday, and Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told the ABC he intended to work closely and constructively with industry and China to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
The ABC understands the affected abattoirs are in Queensland and NSW, and include two facilities owned by Australia’s largest meat processor JBS.
Other companies affected are Kilcoy Pastoral, Australian Country Choice, the Northern Rivers Co-operative at Casino, and Thomas Food.
Mr Ciobo said the ban related to Chinese concern about labelling non-compliance.
There is no suggestion health or food safety issues are involved.
“This is obviously a very material situation,” Mr Ciobo said.
“We’ve got, potentially, very significant amounts of trade involved in this and so it’s a matter that I’m very mobilised on, my team, my office, as well as our embassy in China.”
Government adopts proactive approach
Mr Ciobo said Australia and China had a strong relationship that “sees us work through irritants”, such as Australia’s recent ban on prawn imports.
“We intend to engage in a very constructive way,” Mr Ciobo said, and sought to reassure the beef industry the Government would adopt a very “proactive” approach.
The Australian Meat Industry Council confirmed it was working with the Department of Agriculture through diplomatic channels on the issue.
There are shipments currently on the water.
The ABC understands the Australian industry believes it has resolved the labelling issues, and the Government is hopeful it can resolve the issue before those ships arrive in China.
The Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources issued a statement on Wednesday saying the six affected export establishments were reported as suspended on the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China website.
“The department is working with industry and Chinese authorities to resolve the matter urgently,” the statement read.
Australia’s beef exports to China were worth more than $600 million last year, and China is the fourth-largest market.
More beef and lamb processors were given approval in March to export chilled meat to China in a deal struck at the highest level, between the Chinese Premier and the Australian Prime Minister.
But Australian exporters are also now confronted with a new competitor in the market as China opens up to US beef imports for the first time in 13 years.
Source: ABC News. Date: 2017-07-27
Vietnam’s agro-forestry-aquatic exports hit 20.45 billion USD in 7 months
The export value of agro-forestry-aquatic products reached 20.45 billion USD in the first seven months of this year, up 14.7 percent against the same period last year, reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Key farm produce raked in 10.89 billion USD (up 18 percent) while aquatic products earned 4.31 billion USD (up 17.5 percent) and forestry products brought home 4.41 billion USD (up 10.8 percent).
Vietnam shipped 3.3 million tonnes of rice worth 1.5 billion USD abroad, up 15.7 percent in volume and 13.7 percent in value compared to the Jan-July period of 2016.
Meanwhile, coffee and cashew nut exports maintained stable growth in the period thanks to higher prices. The country earned 2.12 billion USD from exporting 937,000 tonnes of coffee and 1.83 billion USD from shipping 186,000 tonnes of cashew nuts.
Vegetable and fruit exports witnessed a year-on-year rise of 50 percent in export value to 2.03 billion USD in the reviewed period.
The export value of rubber also recorded a strong surge, reaching 1.13 billion USD, 59 percent higher than that in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, pepper export turnover suffered an 18 percent fall to 800 million USD due to a 30 percent drop in prices.
Source: VNA. Date: 2017-07-27
Why IoT, big data & smart farming are the future of agriculture
The farming industry will become arguably more important than ever before in the next few decades.
The world will need to produce 70% more food in 2050 than it did in 2006 in order to feed the growing population of the Earth, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. To meet this demand, farmers and agricultural companies are turning to the Internet of Things for analytics and greater production capabilities.
Technological innovation in farming is nothing new. Handheld tools were the standards hundreds of years ago, and then the Industrial Revolution brought about the cotton gin. The 1800s brought about grain elevators, chemical fertilizers, and the first gas-powered tractor. Fast forward to the late 1900s, when farmers start using satellites to plan their work.
The IoT is set to push the future of farming to the next level. Smart agriculture is already becoming more commonplace among farmers, and high tech farming is quickly becoming the standard thanks to agricultural drones and sensors.
Below, we’ve outlined IoT applications in agriculture and how “Internet of Things farming” will help farmers meet the world’s food demands in the coming years.
High Tech Farming: Precision Farming & Smart Agriculture
Farmers have already begun employing some high tech farming techniques and technologies in order to improve the efficiency of their day-to-day work. For example, sensors placed in fields allow farmers to obtain detailed maps of both the topography and resources in the area, as well as variables such as acidity and temperature of the soil. They can also access climate forecasts to predict weather patterns in the coming days and weeks.
Farmers can use their smartphones to remotely monitor their equipment, crops, and livestock, as well as obtain stats on their livestock feeding and produce. They can even use this technology to run statistical predictions for their crops and livestock.
And drones have become an invaluable tool for farmers to survey their lands and generate crop data.
As a concrete example, John Deere (one of the biggest names in farming equipment) has begun connecting its tractors to the Internet and has created a method to display data about farmers’ crop yields. Similar to smart cars, the company is pioneering self-driving tractors, which would free up farmers to perform other tasks and further increase efficiency.
All of these techniques help make up precision farming or precision agriculture, the process of using satellite imagery and other technology (such as sensors) to observe and record data with the goal of improving production output while minimizing cost and preserving resources.
Future of Farming: IoT, Agricultural Sensors, & Farming Drones
Smart agriculture and precision farming are taking off, but they could just be the precursors to even greater use of technology in the farming world.
BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, predicts that IoT device installations in the agriculture world will increase from 30 million in 2015 to 75 million in 2020, for a compound annual growth rate of 20%.
The U.S. currently leads the world in IoT smart agriculture, as it produces 7,340 kgs of cereal (e.g. wheat, rice, maize, barley, etc.) per hectare (2.5 acres) of farmland, compared to the global average of 3,851 kgs of cereal per hectare.
And this efficiency should only improve in the coming decades as farms become more connected. OnFarm, which makes a connected farm IoT platform, expects the average farm to generate an average of 4.1 million data points per day in 2050, up from 190,000 in 2014.
Furthermore, OnFarm ran several studies and discovered that for the average farm, yield rose by 1.75%, energy costs dropped $7 to $13 per acre, and water use for irrigation fell by 8%.
Given all of the potential benefits of these IoT applications in agriculture, it’s understandable that farmers are increasingly turning to agricultural drones and satellites for the future of farming.
The future of farming is in collecting and analyzing big data in agriculture in order to maximize efficiency. But there are far more trends to understand with the IoT, and the Internet of Things will touch many more industries than just farming.
Source: Business Insider. Date: 2017-07-27
Post-harvest technologies needed to increase farm produce competitiveness
Using post-harvest technologies is crucial to increase the competitive edge of farm produce, heard a recent workshop in Ho Chi Minh City.
The event was held by the Tropical Agricultural Research and Consultancy Centre in HCM City and the Biotechnology Centre of HCM City on July 15.
Director of the Protective Packaging Solutions company SancoPack Pham Quoc Bao said developing preservation technologies is important to help farmers reduce losses in quantity and to maintain the quality of farm produce.
In Vietnam, post-harvest losses for seed plants were estimated at 10 percent, tubers at 10-20 percent and vegetables and fruits 10-30 percent, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisations (FAO).
This is mainly due to incorrect harvesting, packaging, transporting and preserving techniques, the FAO said, adding that packaging technologies in Vietnam are underdeveloped.
To increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese farm produce, post-harvest preservation will receive special attention from farmers and businesses.
Notably, the Chemistry Institute under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has studied a technology called “GreenMAP” which keeps vegetables and fruits fresh three times as long as traditional methods without chemical impacts.
This new technology is simple, cheap and reduces post-harvest losses by 5 percent.
Experts suggested attracting young human resources to the agricultural sector and providing training courses for them.
Source: VNA.
Agricultural imports in 2017 rise rapidly
China’s imports of major agricultural products continued to increase fast in the first five months of the year, driven by price gaps between domestically produced products and imported products, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Wheat imports between January and May reached 2.2 million metric tons, an increase of 67.3 percent year-on-year, while import of soybeans increased by nearly 20 percent to 37 million tons, and imports of beef rose by 14 percent during the period, compared with the same period last year, Wang Ping, deputy chief of the ministry’s Department of Market and Economic Information, said at a news conference on Monday.
China imported 1.68 million tons of wheat and associated products between January and April, an increase of 94 percent over the same period last year, Wang said, citing figures from the General Administration of Customs.
Imports of some major agricultural products kept increasing quickly between 2011 and 2016, with grain imports increasing at an average annual rate of 32.2 percent, meat at an average annual rate of 24.9 percent, and dairy at 16.6 percent during the five-year period, according to the ministry.
“A rapid increase in imports has also had a great impact on China’s domestic market for agricultural products,” Wang said.
“Due to a sustained increase in imports, it is predicted that beef and mutton prices in the domestic market may fall slightly this year.”
The prices of many agricultural products produced in China are higher than the international level due to higher production costs, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. An exception is corn, whose average wholesale price was 1.58 yuan (23 cents) per kilogram in the first part of the year, similar to the international level, a decrease of 14.4 percent year-on-year, according to the ministry.
Dairy industry analyst Song Liang said the average cost of dairy products in China was at least 20 percent higher than in the European Union, largely due to higher production costs resulting from limited resources such as water and grazing land. This has caused a rapid increase in dairy imports, he said.
Due to causes such as increasing supply, prices of agricultural products in China in general have kept falling since the beginning of this year, with prices of fresh and perishable products, such as vegetables, pork, chicken and eggs seeing the biggest decline, Wang, from the Ministry of Agriculture, said.
For example, the price of eggs decreased to their lowest in the last 10 years in the first half of the year before rebounding recently, and the price of poultry also declined in the first half of the year, Wang said.
The major causes were increased production, as a result of higher poultry and egg prices two years ago and the falling prices of feed such as corn, and an increase in H7N9 bird flu cases during the first half of the year in China, he said.
The price of eggs started to rise in June due to reduced supply following sustained lower prices since late last year, Wang said.
Egg prices may continue to rise in the second half of the year, but at a slow rate due to adequate supply, he said.
The prices of some other major agricultural products, such as pork and vegetables, may also rebound in the second half of the year, Wang said.
Source: China Daily.
ADB: Climate Change Threatens Asia’s Development Gains
Asia’s hard-won development gains are at risk of being reversed by the effects of climate change, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, the news is not all bad for the region, with new energy investments expected to cement its leadership in the “clean industrial revolution.”
The warning on climate change follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the world’s second-biggest emitter from the Paris Agreement, even while the rest of the Group of 20, including the world’s largest emitter, China, have vowed to press ahead with emissions reductions.
Released Friday at the bank’s headquarters in Manila, the report produced by the ADB and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) makes for grim reading, should the predictions eventuate. Under a “business as usual” scenario, a 6 degree Celsius temperature rise is projected over the Asian landmass by the end of the century, with an increase as high as 8 degrees C forecasted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and northwest China.
“These increases in temperature would lead to drastic changes in the region’s weather system, agriculture and fisheries sectors, land and marine biodiversity, domestic and regional security, trade, urban development, migration, and health. Such a scenario may even pose an existential threat to some countries in the region and crush any hope of achieving sustainable and inclusive development,” the report said.
Among the predicted effects are more intense tropical cyclones and typhoons, with coastal and low-lying areas at increased risk of flooding. Global flood losses are expected to reach $52 billion a year by 2050 compared to $6 billion in 2005.
Thirteen of the top 20 cities seen suffering the largest growth in flood losses are located in the Asia-Pacific, comprising Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Zhanjiang, and Xiamen in China; Chennai-Madras, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Surat in India; Jakarta, Indonesia; Nagoya, Japan; Bangkok, Thailand; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Yet while annual precipitation is expected to increase by up to 50 percent over most land areas in Asia, countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan could see a decline in rainfall by 20 to 50 percent, the ADB said.
Food production will suffer as a result, with production costs also rising. In some Southeast Asian nations, rice yields could decline by up to 50 percent by 2100 “if no adaptation efforts are made,” while almost all crops in Uzbekistan could see a 20 to 50 percent decline even under a 2 degree Celsius temperature rise.
Food shortages could increase the number of malnourished children in South Asia by 7 million, as food import costs surge to $15 billion a year by 2050 compared to $2 billion.
Major disruptions to current farming communities could prompt mass migration to the cities, fueling overcrowding and overwhelming social services.
Energy security could also be threatened, due to the reduced capacities of thermal power plants from a scarcity of cooling water and the potentially intermittent performance of hydropower. This could fuel conflicts as countries compete for limited energy supply, the report warned.
Meanwhile, marine ecosystems such as coral reefs will be in serious danger. In the Western Pacific, all coral reef systems will suffer mass coral bleaching if global warming increases by 4 degree Celsius, yet even a 1.5 degree C temperature rise would cause serious bleaching to 89 percent of coral reefs, damaging reef-related fisheries and tourism.
These losses could amount to billions of dollars, judging by a recent estimate that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is worth A$56 billion ($44 billion) in tourism and other economic benefits, or the equivalent of 12 Sydney Opera Houses.
Climate change would also cause damaging health effects, with heat-related deaths among the elderly expected to increase by 52,000 by 2050, according to World Health Organization data. Deaths related to diseases such as malaria and dengue could also rise, adding to the death toll from outdoor air pollution, which is already causing 3.3 million deaths each year globally, led by China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Asia is already experiencing the effects of climate change, accounting for nearly 30 percent of total global economic losses caused by extreme weather between 2000 and 2008, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has also suggested that Cambodia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh are the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change, based on factors including agricultural output and adaptive capacity.
Economic Opportunity
However, Asia’s response to climate change provides it with an economic opportunity too, as noted by PIK director Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber.
“On the one hand, Asian greenhouse-gas emissions have to be reduced in a way that the global community can limit planetary warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed in Paris 2015. Yet even adapting to 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise is a major task,” he said.
“So, on the other hand, Asian countries have to find strategies for ensuring prosperity and security under unavoidable climate change within a healthy global development. But note that leading the clean industrial revolution will provide Asia with unprecedented economic opportunities. And exploring the best strategies to absorb the shocks of environmental change will make Asia a crucial actor in 21st-century multilateralism.”
Asia has already become a world leader in clean energy investment, led by China, which plans to spend 2.5 trillion yuan ($369 billion) on renewable power generation by 2020. Both China and India are seen attracting $4 trillion worth of clean energy investment by 2040, helping to decouple economic growth from emissions, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The ADB has backed such efforts with a record $3.7 billion in climate financing in 2016, which it has committed to reaching $6 billion by 2020. Rival Beijing-led lender, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, has also pledged to support investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency as part of the Paris Agreement, noting that more than 1 billion people in Asia still lack access to secure and clean electricity.
The ADB considers the coming decade as crucial in implementing mitigation measures, since the “business as usual” scenario projected under the Paris accord would render any adaptation efforts ineffective.
Despite a 10-fold rise in per capita incomes over the past 25 years, Asia still remains home to two-thirds of the world’s poor, risking even deeper poverty and disaster should mitigation and adaptation efforts fail.
Fortunately for the world’s most economically dynamic region, Asia still has “both the capacity and weight of influence to move toward sustainable development pathways, curb global emissions, and promote adaptation,” the report concluded.
The message could not be any clearer for Asia’s policymakers, should they wish to sustain the region’s stunning economic success.
Source: The Diplomat.
China approves two more GMO crops for import, DuPont disappointed
China has approved two more genetically modified (GMO) crops for import, the Ministry of Agriculture said, the second such move in the past month to expand access to biotech seeds as part of Beijing’s 100-day trade talks with Washington.
The two new crops, approved from July 16 for a period of three years, are Syngenta’s 5307 insect-resistant corn sold under the Agrisure Duracade brand and Monsanto’s 87427 glyphosate-resistant corn, sold under the Roundup Ready brand, the ministry said on its website on Monday.
The move brings total approvals to four after the government last month gave the go-ahead to Dow Chemical Co’s Enlist corn and Monsanto’s Vistive Gold soybeans.
But it leaves four other products owned by Monsanto, DuPont and Dow still on a waiting list pending approval from Beijing.
DuPont was “disappointed” its Pioneer insect-resistant corn was not included, a spokeswoman said in an email. The other three are Dow’s Enlist soybeans and two alfalfa products developed by Monsanto.
Dow’s Asia Pacific media relations representative Eileen Zeng could not be immediately reached nor could Monsanto’s China corporate affairs manager Lian Meng for comment.
Hopes that all six would get the go ahead in the second round mounted after the National Biosafety Committee (NBC), a group of experts who advise the government on GMO safety, met late last month to review the six remaining products, company executives and experts said.
The first batch of approvals also followed an NBC meeting. The government has not confirmed the meeting took place or commented any further on the issue.
The approvals come after China promised to speed up a review of pending import applications as part of the 100-day trade talks with the United States. China is the top export market for U.S. agricultural products.
While the country does not permit planting of GMO food crops, it does allow GMO imports such as soybeans and corn for use in its animal feed industry.
Getting new varieties approved for import takes years, forcing leading agrichemical players to restrict sales during China’s review process.
Earlier this year, DuPont Pioneer began a limited commercial introduction of its next-generation Qrome corn products under stewardship in the Western United States, allowing it to make the new technology available to some growers ahead of Chinese approval.
DuPont continues to cooperate with Chinese regulators, the spokeswoman said, but added that “global markets should conduct predictable, transparent regulatory reviews based on sound science and be free from political influence”.
The U.S. industry has repeatedly complained about the lack of transparency in China’s biotech review process.
Beijing has in the past held back approvals of imported GMO products amid concerns about anti-GMO sentiment in the country.
Source: Reuters.
Canadian pork industry acting quickly on ractopamine finding in China
Pork groups and the Canadian Meat Council are working together to avoid any disruption to exports to China in the wake of a residue complaint from that country.
China says it has found traces of the growth promoter ractopamine in a shipment of pigs’ feet.
“Canadian Pork International, Canadian Pork Council and the Canadian Meat Council are working with the establishment involved as well as with Canadian government officials to clarify this incident and to take corrective actions,” said Pork Council spokesman Gary Stordy. “We are taking this detection very seriously and want to assure Chinese customers that our industry is dedicated to providing consumers a healthy, safe and nutritious product.”
The industry is confident in the integrity of the Canadian Ractopamine-Free Pork Certification Program, which sets the standards for meeting China’s requirements that meat be free of ractopamine, he said.
China was the third-biggest export customer for Canadian pork in 2016, buying 587,100 tonnes of product, behind the United States and Japan.
After being advised about the incident by the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued an advisory to the industry that “China is looking at this violation as a systemic failure in implementation of the Canadian Ractopamine-Free Pork Certification Program which could affect future pork exports to China. Furthermore, the Chinese authorities are testing Canadian pork for ractopamine at a wider level.”
The agency has suspended exports of pork to China from the establishment, which has not been identified, said Ron Davidson, vice-president of the Canadian Meat Council. “Product en route to the Chinese market from this specific establishment is also being recalled and the plant involved will not ship until further notice.
“At present, the establishment is liaising with its suppliers and the CFIA in the conduct of a comprehensive review of all the factors associated with the shipment,” he said. “As soon as the preliminary investigation is complete, a report containing the analysis and findings will be submitted to the CFIA for onward transmission to China.”
“We look forward to receiving more information and reviewing the compliance with the program at all levels of the supply chain,” Stordy said. “The Canadian pork industry values its relationship with China and looks forward to continuing a strong trading relationship.”
Ractopamine as a feed additive is allowed for beef and pork in Canada, the United States and Mexico but banned in about 160 countries including the European Union, Russia, China and Taiwan even though the Codex Alimentarius says it’s safe to use with appropriate withdrawal periods. Canada also allows it to be used in finishing heavy turkeys.
Source: GlacierFarmMedia
Troubles for top beef exporters feed higher global meat prices
Fatter prices for all types of meat may be on the cards as religious and health concerns threaten to curtail supply from the world’s top beef exporting countries and leading importer China seeks to satisfy its appetite with other sources.
India exported the most beef in 2016, sending 1.76 million tons abroad, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a figure that equates to 19% globally. The bulk of India’s total comes from buffalo meat, which sells for around half the price of ordinary beef. And though roughly half of these Indian exports go to Vietnam, much of that meat is forwarded to China, the top beef consumer worldwide.
But that all stands to change after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government ordered a ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter in late May. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party triumphed in key state elections in March, giving Modi the political muscle to enact the ban. The country’s Supreme Court suspended the law on Tuesday. But the party is backed by a Hindu nationalist group that is particularly opposed to the slaughter of cows — a sacred animal in Hindu tradition — casting uncertainty over whether India will remain a stable beef supplier.
Beef buyers also are preparing for a lean period from Brazil, based not on politics or religion but rather over questions of safety. The country exported 1.69 million tons of beef last year, or 18% of the world total. But the U.S. on June 22 halted imports of fresh Brazilian beef, citing food safety concerns. Brazilian media report abscesses were found on beef carcasses. This incident comes after Brazilian meat processors were discovered in March to be selling chicken and other products that fell short of sanitary standards.
These quality concerns could give China further reason to take its business elsewhere. The Asian nation imported 812,000 tons of beef in 2016, according to the USDA, beating No. 2 importer Japan by nearly 100,000 tons. Though Japan obtains no beef from India or Brazil, the country still may face rising prices for various meats as China substitutes products from those leading markets with others, according to a major meat wholesaler.
Meat from Australian milk and breeding cattle, sold here in ground form, fetched around 705 yen ($6.18) per kilogram on the wholesale market in early July, up 19% from a year prior. Fewer cattle have been raised due to a drought in the country, eating into supply. Prices on Thai chicken have fattened 5% on the year as buyers shift away from the meat’s Brazilian counterpart.
Japan is entering a season of heavy demand for meat. But passing on any rising wholesale prices to the public could blunt sales, said a representative for Tokyo-centric supermarket chain Inageya, if the country’s sluggish personal consumption figures are a reliable indicator.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review.
More cases of H7N9 reported in Beijing
Twenty-seven cases of human H7N9 have been reported to authorities in Beijing so far this year, the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control said on Tuesday.
Of the 13 cases contracted in the city of Beijing itself, six people have died, six were cured and one is undergoing medical treatment, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the center, said at a news conference.
Most of the other cases were contracted in areas neighboring Beijing. Of those, 11 were cured and three are undergoing treatment, he said.
The center said no apparent mutation has been detected in the virus and no human-to-human transmission of the disease has been reported in Beijing, so the public need not panic.
“The number of H7N9 cases in China is higher than usual, and Beijing is no exception,” Pang said. “The people were infected through poultry, but there have been no concentrated outbreaks in Beijing.”
China saw its biggest H7N9 outbreak over the past winter since the virus was first reported in China in 2013. A total of 352 human cases of H7N9 were reported in the first two months of this year, with 140 deaths, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. By comparison, 57 cases were reported in the first two months of 2016, the commission said.
Twelve H7N9 cases were reported between June 2 and 8 in nine provincial regions in China, and the number of new cases remained low for three consecutive weeks, the commission said last month. There is no evidence that the virus is becoming more infectious to humans, it said.
The Ministry of Agriculture announced in June that South China’s Guangdong province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region – two major centers for the poultry trade in China – had been chosen as pilot regions where all chickens, ducks and geese will receive vaccines against the H7N9 virus. Veterinary authorities of the two regions may start administering vaccinations in July, monitor the side effects and report the findings to the ministry, it said.
The Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control said residents should continue to take precautionary measures to prevent infection, such as avoiding contact with live poultry and cooking eggs and meat thoroughly, even though the disease is less likely to show up in summer.
Source: China Daily. Date: 2017-07-13
