import of poultry meat and products from areas in Japan, Poland and Ireland suspended
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced on December 13 that in view of a notification from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza in Aomori Prefecture in Japan, and notifications from the General Veterinary Inspectorate of Poland and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) respectively about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Poddębicki District of Łódzkie Region in Poland and County Cavan in Ireland, 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 40 tonnes of chilled poultry meat, about 2,530 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 210.28 million poultry eggs from Japan; about 4,070 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 24.82 million poultry eggs from Poland; and about 300 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Ireland in the first nine months of this year.

"The CFS has contacted the Japanese, Polish and Irish 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.