The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced on May 17 that in view of notifications from the General Veterinary Inspectorate of Poland and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) respectively about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Pleszewski District of Wielkopolskie Region in Poland and Ortenaukreis District in State of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, 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 2,920 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 12.06 million poultry eggs from Poland, and about 180 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 0.53 million poultry eggs from Germany in the first three months of this year.

"The CFS has contacted the Polish and German 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.

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