Import bans placed on avian influenza-affected countries
In a statement from the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, imports will be banned from the whole country for the protection of Hong Kong’s public health.
A spokesperson for the CFS said: "We will continue to closely monitor information issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health on the avian influenza outbreaks and the latest situation in the country."
The Centre had earlier placed bans of the regions where the outbreaks had been discovered, but as the number of outbreaks increased, it widened its ban to cover the whole country. It said that around 18,000 tonnes (t) of poultry meat was imported from the Netherlands last year.
Earlier this month the CFS also announced that it had banned poultry and poultry products from the Yorkshire area in the UK, following the discovery of the same strain of avian influenza earlier this month. Around 15,000 tonnes of frozen poultry meat was imported to Hong Kong from the UK last year.
Meanwhile the government of St Lucia in the Caribbean has banned the import of all poultry and poultry products from the UK. The ban was imposed with immediate effect and applies to all poultry, poultry meat products and processed internal organs of poultry raised, slaughtered or processed in the UK, from 21 days prior to the start date of the outbreak (14 November), said a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture.
It has also been reported that Ukraine has banned all live birds and poultry products from the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, due to the outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
