Mainland frozen chicken imports may be banned if bird flu break
out in the neighboring
Guangdong Province, Hong Kong's Secretary for Health, Welfare
and Food York Chow said Tuesday.
Speaking after meeting poultry traders, Chow defended the recent
ban on live chicken imports as the latest bird flu case found in
Guangzhou. The victim is an urban resident with no contact with
farms. His only exposure to poultry has been in markets.
"Guangdong is one of the best provinces in terms of supervising
the control of avian flu. So with that background, we would like to
have time for the authorities concerned to investigate the case, to
see whether there is any change in the virus, any problem with the
vaccine or any other practice in the wet market that would
contribute to this infection," Chow said.
The plan to cut the local chicken population to 2 million was
originally scheduled to start during the Lunar New Year (beginning
on January 29), but has been postponed after taking into account
poultry traders' views.
Chow said the move will maintain the chicken population at a
reasonable level to keep them in a safe and ideal environment, and
alleviate people's worry in eating chicken.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2006)