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The Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, met with the Minister of the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), Mr Li Changjiang, this (April 15) morning to exchange views on various issues of mutual concern including a pilot scheme on the resumption of importation of live poultry from the Mainland.
At the meeting, Mr Li reaffirmed that all the Mainland registered farms supplying live poultry to Hong Kong had remained avian influenza free despite the disease outbreak in the Mainland.
Dr Yeoh said after the meeting that the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department had met with the AQSIQ several times in the past few weeks to discuss the details of the various requirements for import control and the necessary preparatory work to prepare the Hong Kong community for resumption of importation of live poultry from the Mainland. Officers of the FEHD had also visited a number of Mainland registered farms supplying live poultry to Hong Kong.
"The recent visits to the Mainland registered farms indicated that the farms have adopted the necessary precautionary measures to prevent the occurrence of avian influenza and instituted appropriate surveillance programmes to detect the presence of H5N1 virus.
"Given that the outbreak situation in the Mainland is now under control and that surveillance has been stepped up, we proposed to pilot the importation of live poultry in suitable quantity on a trial basis in order to evaluate the new system before May 12," he said.
Dr Yeoh said agreement had been reached with the AQSIQ on the additional measures to be adopted during the initial stage of import resumption to ensure that all imported live poultry were healthy and to enhance consumers' confidence.
"These additional measures include the selection of the creme de la creme from among all existing Mainland registered farms to first resume supplying live poultry to Hong Kong and strict control on the quantity of live poultry supplied to Hong Kong.
"The AQSIQ has provided us with a list of the registered farms for the early resumption of importation. These farms must be inspected by the FEHD and that the department is satisfied with the farm conditions before export.
"Moreover, all birds to be exported to Hong Kong will have to be segregated from other birds for five days before export. The consignments arriving in Hong Kong at the initial stage of the resumption of importation will be subject to the hold-and-test arrangement. These consignments will only be released to the market if they are tested H5 avian influenza free in the screening test (RRT-PCR test)," Dr Yeoh said.
Meanwhile, measures will be implemented to segregate humans from live poultry at the retail level and additional rest days per month in the markets.
At the meeting, it was agreed that a pilot scheme on the resumption of importation of live chickens from the Mainland will start on April 20.
The first phase of the pilot arrangement will last for three days from April 20 to 22. Not more than 6 000 live chickens will be imported per day. As April 23 and 24 are the rest days of the wholesale market, no live chickens would be imported on these two days. This would then be followed by the rest day of the retail outlets on April 25 on which all live poultry at retail outlets must be slaughtered and the outlets must be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected.
"If the results of the first phase are satisfactory, we could consider gradually increasing the daily quantities of imported live poultry on a step-by-step basis, having regard to the experience," Dr Yeoh said.
"We will maintain a close liaison with the AQSIQ on this matter and will discuss with them the details nearer the time."
The importation of day-old chickens from the Mainland was also discussed at the meeting and it was agreed that this could also be resumed about the same time depending on the demand and supply.
Dr Yeoh said he was glad to see that both sides had reached agreement on the timetable and arrangements for the resumption of the import of live poultry from the Mainland.
"These arrangements have been made after careful assessment of the current situation of avian influenza in the Mainland and the region, as well as the surveillance and monitoring system in place in the Mainland registered farms. They are in line with our commitment to protect public health from the potential hazards of avian influenza," he stressed.
Dr Yeoh said the discussion was very fruitful as both sides had also exchanged views on issues related to the re-export of meat, poultry and fruits via Hong Kong to the Mainland.
"Since the signing of the co-operation arrangement with the AQSIQ last November, we have maintained very close communication and working relationship with the AQSIQ on various matters relating to the inspection and quarantine of food, live animals and poultry, plants and animal products with a view to ensuring food safety and protecting public health in both the Mainland and Hong Kong.
"I am sure that we will continue to work on the foundation of closer co-operation for the protection of public health in both the Mainland and Hong Kong," Dr Yeoh added.
Ends/Thursday, April 15, 2004
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