The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (September 6) that in view of notifications from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in the County of Sacramento and the County of Tuolumne of the State of California in the United States (US), and Santarém District in Portugal, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

     A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 7 360 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and 201.48 million poultry eggs from the US, and no poultry meat or eggs were imported into Hong Kong from Portugal in the first six months of this year.

     ​"The CFS has contacted the American and Portuguese authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.

Ends/Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Issued at HKT 14:45

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