HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s food safety authority on Tuesday suspended the importation of poultry meat and products from areas in Germany and Poland due to bird flu outbreaks.

The Centre for Food Safety said poultry imports from Oberspreewald-Lausitz district inBrandenburg, Germany and Międzyrzecki district in Lubuskie region and Siedlce district in Mazowieckie region in Poland were suspended

In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, the Centre for Food Safety said poultry imports from Oberspreewald-Lausitz district inBrandenburg, Germany and Międzyrzecki district in Lubuskie region and Siedlce district in Mazowieckie region in Poland were suspended after outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in these places.

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“The CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong,” the statement reads.

A CFS spokesman said that, according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 430 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 800,000 poultry eggs from Germany and about 4,070 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 24.82 million poultry eggs from Poland in the first nine months of 2021.

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He added that the CFS has contacted the German and Polish authorities and will closely monitor information issued by the World Organisation for Animal Healthon avian influenza outbreaks.