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The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (January 4) reminded live poultry retailers and the public that an additional Rest Day would be arranged in January. The three Rest Days will fall on January 10, 20 and 31.
An FEHD spokesman said Rest Days were usually arranged on the 10th and 25th day of each month for poultry outlets to suspend business and conduct thorough cleaning and disinfection.
"As the scheduled January 25 Rest Day is very close to the Lunar New Year, we and the trade have agreed to advance it to January 20 in order to facilitate thorough cleaning and disinfection of poultry retail outlets before the start of the busy festive period.
"An extra Rest Day will also be arranged on January 31 to maintain an appropriate interval with the next Rest Day in February,¡¨the spokesman said.
The spokesman said live poultry outlets would not be allowed to conduct business from noon on January 10 and 20 until the next morning, while business would be suspended for the whole day on January 31.
He urged all live poultry retailers to strictly observe the Rest Day conditions.
"They must not remove any unsold live poultry from their premises to avoid slaughtering them before the start of the Rest Day.
"Our staff will inspect the poultry outlets on the Rest Days. Failure to comply with the Rest Day conditions will lead to immediate cancellation of fresh provision shop licences or termination of market stall tenancies," he warned.
Ends/Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:17
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