Chinese health authorities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) announced on July 11 the suspension of the import of poultry products from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene of the government of the HKSAR gave instructions to suspend the imports of “poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs,” from the aforementioned Mexican state due to a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) notification on an outbreak of highly pathogenic H7N3 avian influenza in that region.
A CFS spokesman explained there is a protocol for poultry products imports from Mexico to Hong Kong, but it does not include eggs, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. Despite this, “no poultry meat from Mexico was imported into Hong Kong” in the first quarter of the year, according to China's statistics agency, the same news agency reported.
“The CFS has contacted the Mexican authorities over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate actions will be taken in response to the development of the situation,” the spokesman told Xinhua.
This is not the first time the HKSAR authorities take a measure like this one. In March 2018, Hong Kong authorities also suspended poultry products imports derived from outbreaks of avian influenza in Guanajuato and Querétaro, the news agency EFE reported.
