To protect consumers Hong Kong has suspended the import of poultry meat and products including eggs from parts of Europe and Asia as a result of outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza.
The ban on imports applies to poultry products from Germany, France, South Korea and Japan.
Bird flu has also spread to India and is now present in poultry stocks in 10 different states. In Sweden the H5N5 variant of bird flu was discovered at Sweden’s biggest egg producer.
Avian influenza has hit at least 10 European countries, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Croatia and Ukraine.
Bloomberg reports that the outbreak has spurred poultry import restrictions by nations including China and South Korea. More than 2 million birds died in Poland, and Germany reported almost 30 outbreaks. Turkey farms were affected in Hungary and the U.K., and Denmark suspended sales of chickens outside the EU.
