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Following is a question by the Hon Vincent Fang and a reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (May 10):
Question:
To prevent human affection of avian influenza, the Government has implemented a number of measures over the past two years to segregate live poultry from customers. Such measures include re-designing live chicken stalls in several markets to completely segregate live chickens from customers with full-height glass panels. The Administration has recently indicated that it is actively considering the establishment of a central slaughtering plant for live chickens to forbid retail sale of live chickens. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of markets in which the Government originally planned to install segregation devices, the number of markets in which installation has been completed and the average amount of investment in each market, the number and locations of markets in which installation works have not begun, the amount of provisions for such purposes, and whether installation will commence as originally planned;
(b) whether it has assessed if the segregation devices have achieved the goals of minimising the contact between people and live poultry and reducing the risk of an outbreak of avian influenza; and
(c) if the above goals have been achieved, whether the Government will consider allowing stalls with segregation devices to continue operation after the implementation of central slaughtering for live chickens; if not, how the Government will dispose of the devices?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) To minimise the exposure of the community to live poultry at the retail end, the Government originally planned to provide new poultry stalls in three markets, namely Yue Wan Market in Chai Wan, Tai Kok Tsui Market in Mongkok and San Hui Market in Tuen Mun. Four new poultry stalls in Yue Wan Market and two in Tai Kok Tsui Market were completed for use. The capital costs were about $4.67 million and $2.85 million respectively. Five new poultry stalls are under construction in San Hui Market at an estimated cost of about $4.59 million.
(b) Segregation of poultry from customers at the retail level is one of the options recommended in the Team Clean Report to reduce contact between humans and live poultry. The Report has pointed out that this option of "human-poultry segregation" at the retail level will not fully address the root of the avian flu problem. Public health risks remain in the daily transportation of a great number of live chickens to retailers in densely populated urban areas. In addition, this option does not address contact between poultry trade workers and live poultry.
In the "Prevention of Avian Influenza: Consultation on Long Term Direction to Minimise the Risk of Human Infection" document published in April 2004, Government has made clear that the installation of "human-poultry segregation" facilities in public markets (including new poultry stalls) is only a medium-term improvement measure in the interim before the implementation of central slaughtering.
All in all, the installation of "human-poultry segregation" facilities at the retail level cannot eliminate contact between humans and live poultry during transportation or operation of retail stalls. As such, it is not a long-term strategy in the Government's plan. Recent studies have shown that chickens have the possibility of contracting avian flu virus without developing any symptoms. This situation has increased the risk of selling live poultry at retail outlets. Therefore, Government considers that poultry slaughtering activities should no longer be scattered at the retail end in the various districts in Hong Kong.
(c) On April 11, 2006, Government indicated at the Legislative Council Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene that upon the operation of the proposed poultry slaughtering plant in 2009, the sale of live poultry in retail outlets would be banned. We have no plan to retain retail outlets with installation of "human-chicken segregation" facilities by that time.
Upon the ban of retail sale of live poultry, live poultry retailers may switch to sell chilled and/or frozen poultry. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will consider applications for endorsement to sell chilled and/or frozen poultry. As regards poultry trade workers, some of them may remain in their jobs should their employers choose to re-structure their business under the new business environment. For those who become unemployed, the Labour Department will accord priority to assisting them in finding alternative employment.
Ends/Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:49
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