Press Releases
Government responds on avian influenza case
In light of the presence of H5N1 avian influenza virus in environmental samples
taken from Po On Road Market in Sham Shui Po during regular surveillance
earlier, the Government has adopted special measures promptly to protect public
health, a spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said today (June 9).
"We understand the measures introduced would have some impact on the traders and
we have received their request for compensation. The Government will consider
the traders' request before taking a decision later," the spokesman said.
The detection of avian influenza virus in Po On Road Market showed that the
existing surveillance system has been working effectively to allow the
Government to eliminate the virus, cleanse the markets and trace the source of
the virus promptly so that the threat of the virus could be minimised, the
spokesman added.
In addition, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) and
the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) have been actively tracing
the source of avian influenza virus found in the Po On Road Market. From the
invoices of the three affected stalls, FEHD staff have traced back to the
wholesalers, then traced further so far to three local farms and six mainland
registered farms which supply chickens to Hong Kong.
According to AFCD, there was no abnormality in the three local farms that supply
chickens to the wholesalers involved. The six Mainland registered farms were
checked and so far the Mainland inspection and quarantine authorities confirmed
that there were no abnormalities. FEHD had sent staff to Mainland registered
farms and processing plants with the aim to ascertain that chickens and poultry
meat for supply to Hong Kong would not be affected.
There was an allegation that the Government had taken a long time to make public
the test results of the environmental samples from the Po On Road Market. The
spokesman explained that the treatment of environmental samples was different
from dead birds. Under the regular surveillance, virus isolation was used to
test environmental samples and this took at least a few days.
The environmental samples were taken on June 3 and the results were announced on
June 7. We understand that the time taken by AFCD to test the samples was
comparable to the time required by the local tertiary institutions when
conducting similar tests.
The spokesman pointed out that all legal live chicken imports and local chickens
from registered farms had to undergo random checks before entering the Cheung
Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market. Only those with satisfactory test
results were allowed to be sold to retailers.
Emphasising that the Government had all along been sparing no effort in cracking
down on illegal import of live poultry and birds, the spokesman said the
Government would not tolerate illegal chicken imports which pose threats to
public health. The Customs and Excise Department together with the relevant
departments would conduct a comprehensive special investigation and step up
actions to deter smuggling activities.
The Customs and Excise Department called on members of the trade and the public
to report any smuggling of poultry and any intelligence to the Customs
Information Hotline 2545 6182.
Ends/Monday, June 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:52
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