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The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (August 6) that in view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) that there have been outbreaks of low pathogenic H7 avian influenza detected at a poultry farm in the Province of Friesland in the Netherlands, the import of poultry and poultry products (including poultry eggs) from the province will be banned with immediate effect.
A CFS spokesman said about 10 000 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and 2.4 million poultry eggs from the Netherlands were imported into Hong Kong in the first five months of this year.
The import ban on the same items from the village of Zeewolde and the Province of Utrecht have been in effect since March 20 and June 4 this year respectively, he added.
"We will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on the avian influenza outbreak and the latest situation in the Netherlands, and will maintain close contacts with major local egg importers, distributors and supermarkets," the spokesman said.
Ends/Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:10
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