Import of poultry meat and products from Dover District and Canterbury District of Kent County in UK suspended

     â€‹The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (November 4) that in view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of low pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza in Dover District of Kent 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 Dover District and the adjacent Canterbury District with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

      A CFS spokesman said that Hong Kong imported about 8 700 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 330 000 poultry eggs from the UK in the first nine months of this year, according to the Census and Statistics Department.

     "The CFS has contacted the British authorities over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.