Import of poultry meat and products from areas in Japan and Netherlands suspended

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 11) that in view of notifications from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza in Oita Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture in Japan, and from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in the Province of Zuid-Holland in the Netherlands, 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.
      
     A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, in the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong imported about 50 tonnes of chilled poultry meat, about 4 300 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 200 million poultry eggs from Japan and about 4 600 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from the Netherlands.
      
     "The CFS has contacted the Japanese and Dutch authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE 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.