Hong Kong halts Chinese poultry imports over bird flu

26-Apr-2012 - Last updated on 27-Apr-2012 at 05:47 GMT

Honk Kong has suspended poultry imports from the eastern Chinese province of Liaoning, after a case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was confirmed in the region.

The ban, announced yesterday (26 April) by Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety (CFS) will be effective for 21 days.

Hong Kong is applying a zonal approach pollcy for import restrictions meant to prevent the spread of HPAI from various Chinese provinces.

"Under the zonal approach policy, in the event of a confirmed case of HPAI poultry infection in any province outside Guangdong Province where there is no export of live poultry to Hong Kong, we will suspend the import of poultry products from the province for at least 21 days.

"We will closely monitor the latest situation about the avian flu case in Liaoning Province and take appropriate follow-up action," a CFS spokesperson said.

Last year, Hong Kong imported about 28,000 tonnes of frozen poultry and 103 million eggs from the Liaoning Province. However, no farm in the region is registered to export live or chilled poultry to Hong Kong.

In December last year, Hong Kong intensified bird flu controls after a chicken carcase tested positive to the H5N1 virus.