Hong Kong suspends import of poultry products from Dutch province

HONG KONG, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Food safety authority of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said Tuesday that it has ordered to suspend import of poultry products from a province of the Netherlands due to bird flu outbreak there.

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the HKSAR government's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced that in view of a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N6 avian influenza in the Province of Flevoland in the Netherlands, the CFS has instructed to suspend the import of poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs, from the province with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

A CFS spokesman said that in the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong imported about 3,300 tons of frozen poultry meat and 1.6 million poultry eggs from the Netherlands.

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