The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced on January 7 that in view of notifications from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of Korea, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in East Devon District of Devon County in the United Kingdom (UK); Sejong City in Korea; Viborg Municipality in Denmark and Komarom-Esztergom County in Hungary respectively, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the abovementioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

A CFS spokesman said that Hong Kong has currently established a protocol with Hungary for the import of poultry meat but not for poultry eggs. According to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 8,700 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 330,000 poultry eggs from the UK; about 740 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 8.9 million poultry eggs from Korea; about 1,150 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 1.3 million poultry eggs from Denmark; and about 712 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Hungary in the first nine months of last year.

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

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