Hong Kong has suspended live poultry imports from mainland China after avian influenza was detected in a consignment of imported chickens.
A batch of live chickens from a registered farm in the Huicheng District of Huizhou, Guangdong, tested positive for H7N9 avian influenza earlier this week. Imports will be suspended for 21 days, Hong Kong’s Food and Health Bureau revealed on Wednesday (31 December).
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The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has declared the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market – the point of entry for live poultry from China – an “infected place”. The market will remain closed for 21 days and the authorities have commenced a cull of some 15,000 live birds in the market.
In an effort to prevent the spread of the disease, AFCD, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) said they will “strengthen the surveillance and control measures against H7N9 along the supply chain of live poultry”.
Speaking during a media briefing at the government’s central offices, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man said poultry from local farms are also being tested for bird flu. As a further precaution the Hong Kong authorities are taking control of the movement of local birds, he added.
“AFCD will conduct inspections and collect additional samples for testing from all of the 29 registered live poultry farms in Hong Kong to ensure that they are not affected by H7 AI. We will then channel the local live chickens to the Ta Kwu Ling checkpoint before they could be dispatched to the retail points,” Dr Ko explained.
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