23rd December 2024 – (Hong Kong) The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today, 23rd December, that it has implemented an immediate suspension of poultry meat and products imports from specific regions in the United States and the United Kingdom due to recent notifications from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) regarding outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza.
The affected areas include:
United Kingdom
- Norfolk County
- King’s Lynn & West Norfolk District
United States
- California
- Marin County
- San Joaquin County
- South Dakota
- Beadle County
- Charles Mix County
- Faulk County
- Hutchinson County
- McPherson County
- Moody County
- Spink County
- Iowa
- Sioux County
- Palo Alto County
- North Dakota
- Bottineau County
- McHenry County
- Ransom County
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Piute County
- Sanpete County
A spokesperson for the CFS noted that, according to data from the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported approximately 63,470 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and around 17.2 million poultry eggs from the US, along with about 900 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and approximately 990,000 poultry eggs from the UK during the first nine months of this year.
The CFS has reached out to authorities in both the US and the UK regarding these developments and will continue to monitor updates from the WOAH and relevant local authorities concerning the avian influenza outbreaks. The department emphasised its commitment to taking appropriate action based on the evolving situation to safeguard public health in Hong Kong.
