Hong Kong Suspends Poultry Imports From Korea's Yeoncheon-gun and Six U.S. Counties Over Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
HONG KONG — The Centre for Food Safety of Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced on November 9 that, in view of notifications from the World Organisation for Animal Health about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N9 avian influenza in Yeoncheon-gun of Gyeonggi-do Province in Korea and outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in parts of the United States, it 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 affected U.S. areas are six counties: Dickey County in North Dakota, Roseau County in Minnesota, Cedar County in Nebraska, Greeley County in Kansas, Hanson County in South Dakota and Clinton County in Illinois.
A Centre for Food Safety spokesman said that, according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 80 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 11.48 million poultry eggs from Korea, and about 33,270 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 92.33 million poultry eggs from the United States in the first nine months of this year.
The centre said it has contacted the Korean and American authorities and will closely monitor information issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health and the relevant authorities, taking appropriate action in response to developments. (Source: Centre for Food Safety, Hong Kong)
Source: Centre for Food Safety, Hong Kong
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：家禽养殖场的鸡群（Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 2.0），本站档案图复用。 / Photo: Chickens at a poultry farm (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0). GSM archive image reused.
