Hong Kong suspends poultry from Denmark region after AI scare
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it made the decision after notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of low pathogenic H7 avian influenza in the Middelfart Municipality.
A CFS spokesman said that Hong Kong imported about 1,340 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 1.56m poultry eggs from Denmark last year.
“The CFS has contacted the Danish authorities over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation,” the spokesman said.
This is not the first outbreak as, in July 2016, the CFS banned the imports of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) after low-pathogenic H7N7 avian influenza was found in Brenderup, Denmark.
In November 2016, the CFS lifted an import ban on Danish poultry and poultry products from the Middelfart, Nordfyns and Aalborg Municipalities of Denmark after an avian influenza outbreak.
Earlier this month CFS revealed that a French raw milk cheese Valencay et Petit Valencay might have been contaminated with Shiga toxin-producing E.coli and was under recall in France.
The CFS received a notification from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed of the European Commission. It said a preliminary investigation found that an importer had received a small quantity of the affected product and all had been distributed to two food premises, which had no stock left. It said it would be monitoring the situation.
