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HONG KONG, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong authorities announced Tuesday that they have banned the import of poultry meat and products from Chile's Quilpue and Romania.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said that in view of a notification from the Chilean authorities about an outbreak of low pathogenic avian influenza H7 in Quilpue, Chile, it has banned the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above area with immediate effect.
In addition, in view of a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Romania, the CFS has banned the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from Romania with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.
A CFS spokesman said that in the first 11 months of last year, Hong Kong imported about 750 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Chile. Since Hong Kong has not established any protocol with Romania for imports of poultry meat and eggs, there is no import of such commodities from Romania.
"The CFS has contacted the Chilean and Romanian authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on avian influenza outbreaks in the countries concerned. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.
