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The import of live food poultry and poultry products (including chilled and frozen food poultry and poultry eggs) from the Guangzhou Import Control Zone designated early this month can resume today (June 22), the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced.
A CFS spokesman said that on June 1 the CFS suspended the import of live food poultry and poultry products from the above Zone for 21 days as part of Hong Kong's control and prevention measures. The Zone lies within a 13 km radius of a wet market with live food poultry close to the usual residence of a Guangzhou human Influenza A (H5N1) patient.
"There is in fact no registered live food poultry farm or registered chilled or frozen food poultry processing plant eligible for supplying to Hong Kong within the said Zone," the spokesman said.
"There is however a processing plant eligible for exporting salted eggs to Hong Kong within the Zone. According to information obtained from major local egg traders, no salted eggs have been imported from the plant since the beginning of this year," he said.
"We have decided to resume the import of live food poultry and poultry products from the Zone as we have not received any notification of a poultry case of highly pathogenic avian influenza or any human Influenza A (H5N1) case in the Zone since June 1," the CFS spokesman said.
"However, in order to safeguard Hong Kong against the threat posed by avian influenza, the CFS will continue the usual surveillance on imported live food poultry and poultry products," he added.
Ends/Friday, June 22, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:47
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