HONG KONG, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The food safety authority of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) decided on Wednesday to suspend import of poultry products from Val-d'Oise Department in France.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the HKSAR government's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said the decision was made in view of a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of low-pathogenic H7N7 avian influenza in Val-d'Oise Department.
The CFS has instructed the trade to suspend import of poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs, from the department with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.
A CFS spokesman said that Hong Kong imported about 2,000 tons of chilled and frozen poultry meat and 420,000 poultry eggs from France in the first three months of this year.
The CFS has contacted the French 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.
