Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 2/18/14


Health authorities in Hong Kong have extended a ban on live poultry from mainland China for another four months, even as Vietnam takes additional steps to protect the nation’s poultry supply from an avian flu outbreak.

Just weeks after culling 20,000 chickens after discovering the H7N9 strain of bird flu in poultry imported from the mainland, the Hong Kong government is extending a three-week ban on chickens from mainland China by four months, according to a report from the South China Morning Post. Hong Kong usually imports 7,000 live chickens daily, while local suppliers provide about 12,000 birds each day. The extra time will give authorities an opportunity to find a site to complete virus test results as well as find a site where imported and local birds can be segregated.

Local breeders warned that some of the 600,000 chickens that had accumulated at farms during the original ban could be sold at a discount, although the threat of local farmers raising their prices because of a lack of competition could also occur, the report said.

Meanwhile, Vietnam will close its live poultry markets one day per month to address quarantine measures to contain any H7N9 transmission among its poultry, according to a report at Blackseagrain.net. The virus has not yet been detected in birds in Vietnam, although an emergency action plan developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development calls for live poultry markets to be immediately closed for seven days should H7N9 be found in the country.

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