The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 4) that in view of notifications from the General Veterinary Inspectorate of Poland and the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in the Siedlce District, Mazowieckie Region in Poland, and the Hambleton District, North Yorkshire County in the United Kingdom (UK) respectively, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.
According to the Census and Statistics Department, in the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong imported about 9,900 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 21.32 million poultry eggs from Poland, and about 8,700 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 330,000 poultry eggs from the UK.
"The CFS has contacted the Polish and British authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.
Follow this news feed: East Asia