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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Helena Wong and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (May 21):
Question:
To prevent and control human infections of avian influenza A (H7N9), the authorities conduct tests at the Man Kam To Animal Inspection Station for H7 avian influenza on samples taken from imported live chickens, and allow these live chickens to be delivered to the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market (the Wholesale Market) while awaiting the test results. In January this year, avian influenza viruses were found in the samples from a batch of imported live chickens. As a result, the authorities culled more than 20 000 local and imported live chickens in the Wholesale Market and closed it for 21 days. On January 29, the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene of this Council passed a motion urging the Administration to expeditiously propose plans to improve the live chicken supply system, and immediately study the segregation of local-farm live chickens for independent conveyance to markets. When the trading of live chickens was resumed on February 19, the Government decided to suspend the import of live chickens for around four months, and focus on studying measures in preparation for the resumption of the import of live chickens from the Mainland, so that in case avian influenza viruses are found in the samples from imported live chickens and the Wholesale Market has to be closed, supply of local live chickens to the market can continue by delivering them to the retail outlets via the proposed check-point at the government farm in Ta Kwu Ling. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Secretary for Food and Health has indicated that Fu Tei Au would be considered as the site for keeping imported live chickens temporarily but it would take time to conduct the relevant studies, whether the authorities are still considering that site; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) whether, before a site for keeping imported live chickens temporarily has been identified, it will maintain the suspension of the import of live chickens from the Mainland, so as to avoid the situation where the supply of local live chickens to the market is affected by avian influenza viruses being found again in the samples from imported live chickens; and
(3) whether it has formulated any measure to deal with, before the segregation of local and imported live chickens, the situation where avian influenza viruses are found again in the samples from live chickens; if it has, whether it will implement again the relevant measures taken in January (including culling all live chickens in the Wholesale Market and offering compensation to affected members of the trade); if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Over the past decade or so, the Government, the local live poultry trade, Mainland inspection and quarantine authorities and the Mainland farms supplying live poultry to Hong Kong have collaboratively built up a stringent system for the surveillance and control of avian influenza (AI), for the purpose of reducing the AI risks in Hong Kong. All live poultry supplied to retail outlets in Hong Kong, whether locally reared or imported, are subject to stringent inspection and quarantine procedures. Animal health certificates would be issued only if the test results are satisfactory. Prior to leaving the farm, poultry ready for sale are put under quarantine for five days and are required to pass the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and serology tests for AI to show that they have a sufficient level of H5 antibodies and are not carrying any AI virus (including H5 and H7 subtypes) or having any AI clinical symptoms. In other words, before their delivery to Hong Kong, imported live poultry have passed the tests conducted by relevant Mainland inspection and quarantine authorities with satisfactory results and are issued with animal health certificates. After the live poultry have entered Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will collect swabs and blood samples from them at the Man Kam To Animal Inspection Station and the samples would be sent to the Veterinary Laboratory of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for testing. The testing system is designed to provide an additional safeguard to reduce the risk of infected poultry entering our retail markets.
Currently, there is only one wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong (i.e. the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market). After samples have been taken at the Man Kam To Animal Inspection Station, the imported live poultry will be delivered direct to the wholesale poultry market pending test results. They will be released to retail outlets only after the test results are confirmed to be satisfactory. This arrangement has been working well over the past decade or so as a gatekeeper protecting public health and animal health in Hong Kong. Through the system in place, we detected positive H7 AI samples in imported live poultry on January 27 this year, which has helped effectively reduce the risk of infected poultry entering the retail markets.
In the light of the above AI incident, many Hong Kong people, Legislative Council members and stakeholders in the poultry trade have suggested to the Government that we should consider segregating imported live poultry from local ones and holding them at a suitable location until AI test results are available before they are allowed to be delivered to the wholesale poultry market. In such a way, the impact on the continued supply of live poultry could be minimised if contingency measures are to be taken in the event of an AI incident to prevent the spread of AI.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) Members of the public and the live poultry trade have suggested that the Government should segregate imported live poultry from local ones and hold them at a suitable location until AI test results are available before they are allowed to be delivered to the wholesale market. In response to the suggestion, the Government has been actively looking for appropriate sites (including Fu Tei Au and other sites) for the temporary holding of imported live poultry. In the course of the site search, the Government has to take into account factors including the planning and use of the sites, the infrastructure required for the temporary holding of live poultry, the impact of this arrangement on the neighbouring environment and community (including the presence of any chicken farms in the vicinity), and the lead time required for preparation. According to the estimate by the relevant works department, it would take at least 15 months to set up the proposed facilities after an appropriate site had been identified. The site search as well as the setting up of the requisite facilities would take time. To facilitate the early resumption of live poultry import from the Mainland while keeping the AI risk under control, the Government has to consider other practicable alternatives that would meet the public demand for live poultry and reduce the impact on the live poultry trade. Having evaluated various options, the Government is now focusing on the option of establishing a check-point for local live chickens at the Government farm in Ta Kwu Ling.
(2) As mentioned above, we estimate that a lead time of at least 15 months will be required to set up the segregation facilities. Should we keep suspending the import of live poultry, the adverse impact on the supply of poultry would persist. It would fall short of meeting public demand for live poultry and affect the livelihood of those in the live poultry trade. As such, the Government has to consider other alternatives to facilitate the early resumption of live poultry import from the Mainland while keeping the AI risk under control.
(3) When the import of live poultry from the Mainland resumes, we will keep the existing arrangement of allowing delivery of imported live poultry already tested in the Mainland (thus bearing official animal health certificates) to the wholesale market, pending the results of tests conducted in Hong Kong. In the event of an AI incident, appropriate measures will be implemented according to our established contingency plan to contain the AI risk, including culling of the potentially infected poultry and closure of the wholesale poultry market. In future, during the closure of the wholesale poultry market, and subject to confirmation that local poultry have not been affected by AI, local poultry may be delivered to retail outlets via the check-point at the Government farm in Ta Kwu Ling. This would help maintain the supply of local live poultry to the market. The main objective of the above measure is to ensure the continued supply of live poultry in Hong Kong as far as possible and reduce the possible impact on the trade in case of an AI incident.
In the event of an AI incident which involves the culling of poultry, the Government will make compensation according to the existing legislation. When the Government rolled out the buyout scheme for the live poultry trade in 2008, we had made clear to the Legislative Council and the trade that those operators who chose to stay in the live poultry trade had to bear the risks of any adverse impact on the operation of poultry business that may rise from further AI incidents.
As the AI incident on January 27 came at a time when market demand for and the price of live poultry peaked in the immediate run-up to the Lunar New Year, it had dealt a particularly severe blow to live poultry operators. In view of this, the Government granted one-off ex-gratia payments (EGPs) to the live poultry trade. As there was a special case for granting the EGPs, this cannot be treated as a precedent. In case of similar incidents (such as the suspension of import of live poultry from the Mainland since February 19, 2014) in the future, the Government will assess and consider them on a case-by-case basis.
Ends/Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:46
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