The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (January 28) that in view of a notification from the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Békés County in Hungary, and a notification from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza in Chiba Prefecture in Japan, 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 Hong Kong has currently established a protocol with Hungary for the import of poultry meat but not for poultry eggs. According to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 110 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Hungary, and about 1 540 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 219.73 million poultry eggs from Japan in the first nine months of last year.

     "The CFS has contacted the Hungarian and Japanese authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health 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/Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Issued at HKT 19:56

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