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The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 29) that, based on the announcement made by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of H5 avian influenza on a poultry farm in Yilan County, Taiwan, the import of poultry eggs from Yilan would be banned with immediate effect for the protection of public health in Hong Kong.
A CFS spokesman said Hong Kong does not import any live poultry or poultry meat from Taiwan, but a small quantity of poultry eggs is imported from Taiwan. According to records, about 5.8 million poultry eggs were imported into Hong Kong from Taiwan between January and October this year.
Import bans on the same items from Penghu County and Hualien County in Taiwan, imposed in November 2012 and August 2013 respectively due to outbreaks of avian influenza, are still in force, he added.
"We will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on the avian influenza outbreaks in Taiwan, and take appropriate action in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.
Ends/Monday, December 29, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:58
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