September 6, 2007

Hong Kong would not expand live bird imports from China

Hong Kong authorities said they would keep the number of live chickens imported from the Mainland per day at 20,000 due to the threat of bird flu. 

A report from the Information Services Department quoted a spokesman for Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau as saying that having huge numbers of live poultry in the markets might increase the risk of an outbreak.

The Bureau said the present approach is appropriate as it can both protect public health and meet people's demands for live chickens.

The Bureau said it would also flexibly adjust the figure for major festive occasions to meet the stronger demand during those periods.

Hong Kong is in the process of building a centralised poultry slaughtering and processing plant which would handle all imported and local poultry. 

The authorities are also drafting laws and issuing tenders for the operation. The government would also assess the environmental impacts of such a project.

Authorities are also enhancing inter-agency cooperation to crack down on illegal poultry imports.