Import of poultry meat and products from areas in Korea, Ukraine and Japan suspended

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 8) that in view of notifications from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Sangju-si of Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and Yeongam-gun of Jeollanam-do Province in Korea, and notifications from the OIE and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza in Nikolayev Oblast in Ukraine and Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan 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.

     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; about 2 160 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 66.6 million poultry eggs from Ukraine; and about 50 tonnes of chilled poultry meat, about 4 300 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 200 million poultry eggs from Japan.

     "The CFS has contacted the Korean, Ukrainian and Japanese 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.