​The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (January 3) that in view of notifications from the General Veterinary Inspectorate of Poland and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) about outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in areas in Poland; and outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in areas in Korea, the United States (US) and Canada respectively, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the relevant areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.
The relevant areas are as follows:
Poland
—-
Warmińsko-Mazurskie Region
(1) Nowomiejski District
(2) Ostródzki District
Korea
—-
Gyeonggi-do Province
(3) Hwaseong-si
(4) Gimpo-si
Chungcheongnam-do Province
(5) Cheongyang-gun
US
—-
State of Ohio
(6) Darke County
Canada
—-
Province of Ontario
(7) Township of Zorra
(8) Township of South-West Oxford
A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 3 480 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Poland; about 20 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 15.52 million poultry eggs from Korea; about 63 470 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 17.2 million poultry eggs from the US; and about 370 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Canada in the first nine months of last year.
"The CFS has contacted the Polish, Korean, American and Canadian authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the WOAH 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