Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 6/18/10

The World Trade Organization has issued an interim ruling against a U.S. ban on importing poultry from China, according to a report by the China News Service.

WTO officials said the ban breaks the international body's sanitary and phytosanitary standards, according to the report, which quoted an anonymous Chinese government official.

Washington can appeal the ruling, the report said.

China filed a complaint with the WTO in April 2009, protesting a clause in a U.S. law that bars funding to establish and implement a rule that would allow Chinese poultry.

WTO's ruling comes weeks after China ramped up tariffs on U.S. poultry.

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