Hong Kong has banned the import of poultry meat and products from New Jersey after an outbreak of low pathogenic H7 avian influenza was detected in New Jersey’s Salem County. The ban was announced by Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the outbreak occurred at a breeding farm and hunting preserve that is home of about 40,000 mallard ducks and between 7,000 and 8,000 pheasants.
The outbreak is being investigated by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
OIE reported that there have been no clinical signs of illness or increased mortality on the premises, and that there are no commercial poultry farms within a five mile radius of where the outbreak occurred. Despite that, the Hong Kong food safety agency implemented the ban on New Jersey poultry.
“We will be in close liaison with the U.S. authorities over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE o avian influenza outbreaks in the country. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation,” an agency spokesman said, according to a 7th Space report.
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