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A spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) today (January 12) again appealed to poultry wholesale traders to comply with the requirements of the system for collecting information on the source of dead chickens at Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market. They must notify AFCD staff on duty every time a dead chicken is found.
The Wholesale Poultry Market was re-opened to the trade at 00.00 hours today. An AFCD staff member found a dead chicken without any identifying label inside a rubbish bin during inspection this morning. No one provided relevant information or admitted disposing of the dead chicken to the AFCD.
The dead chicken tested negative for H5 avian influenza virus.
The spokesman explained that as today was the first day of the new reporting system, it was possible that some individuals might not fully understand the system and consequently did not report the dead chicken found at the market. The AFCD has phoned all the wholesalers and requested them to ask their employees to comply with the new requirements. The AFCD will also step up inspection to ensure that traders understand and comply with these requirements.
The spokesman reiterated that traders' co-operation was essential to the effective functioning of the new system to trace the source of dead chickens. The AFCD urged them to be responsible and to protect public health. The AFCD will closely monitor the situation and continue to review and fine-tune the implementation details.
Ends/Thursday, January 12, 2012
Issued at HKT 18:09
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