February 17, 2014
Hong Kong bans import of Vietnamese poultry eggs
Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced on February 14 that import of salted duck eggs from the six provinces of Vietnam will be banned with immediate effect due to bird flu outbreaks.
In view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) that outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza were detected in the provinces of Nam Dinh, Quang Ngai, Tay Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Ca Mau and Kon Tum in Vietnam.
A CFS spokesman said, "The import of poultry and poultry products from Vietnam has been banned since January 2004 to help prevent avian influenza. The import of poultry eggs (including fresh, salted and preserved eggs) from the country was also banned from September 2012 until early October last year when the suspension for the import of salted duck eggswas lifted subject to compliance with the agreed health certification."
The spokesman added that the import ban on the same items from the provinces of Hoa Binh and Bac Ninh in Vietnam has been in effect due to the outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza detected in the two provinces in Vietnam earlier and the import ban is still in force.