Hong Kong suspends imports of poultry and poultry products from Poland, South Korea and parts of Ukraine

On December 29, the Food Safety Center of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced that due to an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in parts of Poland and South Korea, and an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza in Ukraine’s Kiev state, the center instructed the industry to suspend imports. Poultry meat and poultry products (including poultry eggs) in the region to protect Hong Kong’s public health. A spokesperson for the Center said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 9900 tons of frozen poultry and about 21.32 million from Poland in the first nine months of this year. Only poultry eggs; about 740 tons of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 8.9 million poultry eggs imported from South Korea; and about 2,160 tons of frozen poultry meat and about 66.6 million poultry eggs imported from Ukraine. The spokesman said that the center ...