Hong Kong bans poultry products from southeastern Sweden

HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong food safety authority said on Friday that it has banned the import of poultry products from a bird flu-hit island in southeastern Sweden.

The ban, with immediate effect, is on the import of both poultry meat and eggs, and was announced in view of a notification from the Swedish authorities about an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza on Uto island, said the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

A CFS spokesman said Hong Kong imported about 32 km of frozen poultry meat and 218,000 poultry eggs from Sweden in the first 10 months of this year.

"The CFS has contacted the Swedish authorities over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health on avian influenza outbreaks in the country. Appropriate actions will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.