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The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (February 18) that in view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) that outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza were detected in villages in the provinces of Lao Cai, Long An, Phu Yen and Dak Lak in Vietnam, the import of salted duck eggs from the four provinces will be banned with immediate effect for the protection of Hong Kong's public and animal health.
A CFS spokesman said, "The import of poultry and poultry products from Vietnam has been banned since January 2004 to help prevent avian influenza. The import of poultry eggs (including fresh, salted and preserved eggs) from the country was also banned from September 2012 until early October last year when the suspension for the import of salted duck eggs was lifted subject to compliance with the agreed health certification."
The import ban on the same items from the provinces of Hoa Binh, Bac Ninh, Nam Dinh, Quang Ngai, Tay Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Ca Mau and Kon Tum in Vietnam has been in effect due to the outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza detected in the eight provinces in Vietnam earlier and the import ban is still in force, the spokesman added.
"We will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on the avian influenza outbreak and the latest situation in Vietnam, and will maintain close contacts with major local egg importers, distributors and supermarkets," the spokesman said.
Ends/Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:00
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