The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 28) that in view of notifications from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of Korea and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) respectively about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Yongin-si of Gyeonggi-do Province and Namwon-si of Jeollabuk-do Province in Korea, and on the Orkney Islands of Scotland and in North Dorset District of Dorset County in the United Kingdom (UK), 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 740 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 8.9 million poultry eggs from Korea; 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 Korean and British 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.
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