Import Poultry Meat Tender

The Centre for Food Safety CFS of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today October 29 that in view of notifications from the World Organisation for Animal Health WOAH about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Guldborgsund Municipality in Denmark and Westerkwartier Municipality of Groningen Province in the Netherlands 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 according to the Census and Statistics Department Hong Kong imported about 410 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 250 000 poultry eggs from Denmark and about 790 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from the Netherlands in the first nine months of this year

The CFS has contacted the Danish and Dutch authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the WOAH 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