Mexican poultry products exports to Hong Kong suspended

Last Thursday, the Government of Hong Kong announced the suspension of poultry products imports from Guanajuato, Mexico , due to outbreaks of H7N3 avian influenza.

The Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene of Hong Kong explains on its website that it has taken this decision “with immediate effect” after receiving a notification of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about outbreaks of the “ highly pathogenic ” H7N3 in the region mentioned.

The authorities of the former British colony “have contacted Mexican authorities about the problem and will follow closely the information released by the OIE about outbreaks of avian influenza,” explains a spokesman of the Center for Food Safety (CFS), dependent on the Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene.

“ Appropriate measures will be taken in response to the development of the situation,” he adds.

Hong Kong has a protocol for chicken meat imports from Mexico, but not for eggs .

According to official data, during the first months of 2019 there were no imports from Honk Kong of Mexican chicken meat.

This is not the first time that the Chinese autonomous region takes a similar measure, since in March 2018 , an outbreak of the same strain in Guanajuato and Querétaro caused a suspension of the imports of meat and poultry products, like eggs, from this region with the objective of protecting public health in the city.

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