HONG KONG, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The food safety authority of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) announced Thursday to suspend the import of poultry products from areas in Hungary and Poland due to bird flu outbreaks there.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the HKSAR government's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said that in view of a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Hajdu-Bihar County, Hungary and a notification from Poland's General Veterinary Inspectorate about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in the Kolski district of Wielkopolskie and Mysliborski district of Zachodniopomorskie in Poland, the CFS has instructed 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 Hong Kong has currently established a protocol with Hungary for the import of poultry meat but not for poultry eggs. According to the HKSAR government's Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 2,315 tons of frozen poultry meat from Hungary and about 13,060 tons of frozen poultry meat and 23.2 million poultry eggs from Poland in the first nine months of last year.
"The CFS has contacted the Hungarian and Polish 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.
