The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (February 10) that in view of a notification from the General Veterinary Inspectorate of Poland about an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Ostrowiecki District of Świętokrzyskie Region in Poland, and a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Chungju-si and Goesan-gun of Chungcheongbuk-do Province in Korea, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

     A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 13,500 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 39.08 million poultry eggs from Poland, and about 1,190 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 11.15 million poultry eggs from Korea last year.

     "The CFS has contacted the Polish and Korean authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.

Ends/Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Issued at HKT 16:44

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