ENG-2009 — Page 243

Food Safety, Environmental Hygiene, Agriculture and Fisheries I 183

The Food Business (Amendment) Regulation 2008 states that all poultry in public market stalls and fresh provision shops must be slaughtered by 8 pm every day and that live poultry are not allowed in those premises before 5 am the next day.

Live poultry retailers are also required to observe a set of strict safety rules. They must ensure that people working at their outlets wear protective clothing and report any dead poultry to the FEHD immediately when a dead bird is found. They must not overstock live poultry in their premises and must affix acrylic panels to their poultry cages to prevent direct contact between customers and the poultry. They are also responsible for preventing customers from touching live poultry.

All live poultry consignments entering Hong Kong have to be tested for avian influenza before being released to their importers.

During the year, the Government suspended temporarily the importation of chilled or frozen poultry meat and poultry products from a number of places, including the Fraser Valley Regional District of the province of British Columbia in Canada, Vendée Departement and Deux-Sèvres Departement in France, Province of Thuringen and Province of Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany, Aichi Prefecture in Japan, Spain, Edmonson County of Kentucky State and Meeker County of Minnesota States in the United States, Cholla Namdo Province, Chungchong-Namdo Province and Chung Chong Bukdo Province in the Republic of Korea following reports of avian influenza outbreaks in those places. The suspension will be lifted when the Government is satisfied with the control and management measures taken in those places and that they have regained their Notifiable Avian Influenza-free status.

Blood samples and, or faecal swabs are collected regularly from poultry farms, wholesale and retail markets, from healthy, sick or dead birds. The same is done with birds kept in recreation parks, pet shops, and wild birds in wetlands and elsewhere. A quick, real-time method of testing samples for avian influenza, known as Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), is used in Hong Kong. The Government provides a round-the-clock service for receiving birds brought in for examination, regardless of whether the birds are dead, or in weak condition. To enhance the capability and performance of avian influenza testing, a new annex to the AFCD Tai Lung Veterinary Laboratory started operation in July 2009.

Following the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in a chicken farm in Yuen Long in December 2008, the AFCD took immediate action to prevent the spread of the disease and tightened further biosecurity measures at poultry farms after adopting the recommendations made by the Investigation Group on Epidemiological Study on the incident.

Some of the long-term precautionary measures require poultry farms to keep proper farm management records, enhance cleaning and disinfection facilities, segregate the functions relating to the rearing of breeder flocks and broiler flocks, and to install metal nets to prevent small birds from entering farm sheds.