Japan on Wednesday lifted an import suspension on pork and pork products from Denmark, Finland and Sweden because there is little possibility the products are affected by foot-and-mouth disease, the Agriculture Ministry said.
All imports of pork, beef, mutton, goat meat and related processed products from European Union nations had been banned since March 24, following outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in some of the EU's 15 member nations.
The ban was lifted only on pork and pork products from the three nations.
The import ban on products from the other 12 EU nations remains in place, it said.
The ministry said it is also concerned over an outbreak of swine flu in Austria.
The ministry has taken strict measures to keep foot-and-mouth disease from spreading in Japan after it broke out last spring for the first time in 92 years in Hokkaido and Kyushu.
While foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious viral disease that causes blisters and fever in hoofed animals, the disease is believed to pose no threat to people.
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