TOKYO, July 9 (Reuters) - Japan's farm ministry has suspended imports of live day-old chicks, poultry meat and eggs for use in processing from Germany after a pet goose there tested positive for a lethal strain of avian flu, a ministry official said on Monday.

"We've imposed the measures due to a notice from the German Embassy confirming a non-wild bird case," the official said.

A German government spokesman said on Monday that the authorities culled about 1,200 farm and pet birds over the weekend after the pet goose tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu. [ID:nL09721037]

H5N1 bird flu has been confirmed in a series of wild birds in Germany in the past three weeks in Thueringen, in the eastern state of Saxony and in the southern state of Bavaria.

Germany is the third-biggest exporter of day-old chicks to Japan, exporting a total 114,250 birds last year.

In 2006, Japan imported 9 tonnes of poultry meat and 1,019 tonnes of egg for processing from Germany.

AlertNet news is provided by