A ban imposed by Switzerland on chicken imports from China has been lifted after seven months.

Swiss officials cited the positive action taken by the Chinese to prevent antibiotic residue from finding its way into poultry as the grounds for lifting the embargo.

"We've had the ban for a short time on several establishments from China... where we found antibiotic problems," said Urs Zimmerli, an official at the Swiss Federal Veterinary Office.

Switzerland had hit specific poultry producers in China with bans with the last one being lifted on June 20, Zimmerli said from Bern in a telephone interview.

China's General Administration of Quality Supervision and Quarantine confirmed Thursday that Switzerland fully resumed imports of poultry products from China on Tuesday.

The European country suspended imports of chicken and chicken products from China on February 8, claiming Chinese poultry products exceeded approved levels of antibiotics, according to Xu Bing of the Chinese quarantine agency.

China argued the suspension was unreasonable. The suspension was then partially lifted on April 3, according to Xu.

Chinese quarantine authorities will maintain strict inspections on the quality of poultry to be exported, and will make sure exporters further improve their internal management and quality controls, Xu said.

(China Daily July 5, 2002)