Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ14: Surveillance and control of avian influenza
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Helena Wong and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today
(May 21):
Question:
To prevent and control human infections of avian influenza A (H7N9), the
authorities conduct tests at the Man Kam To Animal Inspection Station for H7
avian influenza on samples taken from imported live chickens, and allow these
live chickens to be delivered to the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry
Market (the Wholesale Market) while awaiting the test results. In January this
year, avian influenza viruses were found in the samples from a batch of imported
live chickens. As a result, the authorities culled more than 20 000 local and
imported live chickens in the Wholesale Market and closed it for 21 days. On
January 29, the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene of this Council
passed a motion urging the Administration to expeditiously propose plans to
improve the live chicken supply system, and immediately study the segregation of
local-farm live chickens for independent conveyance to markets. When the trading
of live chickens was resumed on February 19, the Government decided to suspend
the import of live chickens for around four months, and focus on studying
measures in preparation for the resumption of the import of live chickens from
the Mainland, so that in case avian influenza viruses are found in the samples
from imported live chickens and the Wholesale Market has to be closed, supply of
local live chickens to the market can continue by delivering them to the retail
outlets via the proposed check-point at the government farm in Ta Kwu Ling. In
this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Secretary for Food and Health has indicated that Fu Tei Au
would be considered as the site for keeping imported live chickens temporarily
but it would take time to conduct the relevant studies, whether the authorities
are still considering that site; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for
that;
(2) whether, before a site for keeping imported live chickens temporarily has
been identified, it will maintain the suspension of the import of live chickens
from the Mainland, so as to avoid the situation where the supply of local live
chickens to the market is affected by avian influenza viruses being found again
in the samples from imported live chickens; and
(3) whether it has formulated any measure to deal with, before the segregation
of local and imported live chickens, the situation where avian influenza viruses
are found again in the samples from live chickens; if it has, whether it will
implement again the relevant measures taken in January (including culling all
live chickens in the Wholesale Market and offering compensation to affected
members of the trade); if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Over the past decade or so, the Government, the local live poultry trade,
Mainland inspection and quarantine authorities and the Mainland farms supplying
live poultry to Hong Kong have collaboratively built up a stringent system for
the surveillance and control of avian influenza (AI), for the purpose of
reducing the AI risks in Hong Kong. All live poultry supplied to retail outlets
in Hong Kong, whether locally reared or imported, are subject to stringent
inspection and quarantine procedures. Animal health certificates would be issued
only if the test results are satisfactory. Prior to leaving the farm, poultry
ready for sale are put under quarantine for five days and are required to pass
the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and serology tests for AI to show that they
have a sufficient level of H5 antibodies and are not carrying any AI virus
(including H5 and H7 subtypes) or having any AI clinical symptoms. In other
words, before their delivery to Hong Kong, imported live poultry have passed the
tests conducted by relevant Mainland inspection and quarantine authorities with
satisfactory results and are issued with animal health certificates. After the
live poultry have entered Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety of the Food and
Environmental Hygiene Department will collect swabs and blood samples from them
at the Man Kam To Animal Inspection Station and the samples would be sent to the
Veterinary Laboratory of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department
for testing. The testing system is designed to provide an additional safeguard
to reduce the risk of infected poultry entering our retail markets.
Currently, there is only one wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong (i.e. the
Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market). After samples have been
taken at the Man Kam To Animal Inspection Station, the imported live poultry
will be delivered direct to the wholesale poultry market pending test results.
They will be released to retail outlets only after the test results are
confirmed to be satisfactory. This arrangement has been working well over the
past decade or so as a gatekeeper protecting public health and animal health in
Hong Kong. Through the system in place, we detected positive H7 AI samples in
imported live poultry on January 27 this year, which has helped effectively
reduce the risk of infected poultry entering the retail markets.
In the light of the above AI incident, many Hong Kong people, Legislative
Council members and stakeholders in the poultry trade have suggested to the
Government that we should consider segregating imported live poultry from local
ones and holding them at a suitable location until AI test results are available
before they are allowed to be delivered to the wholesale poultry market. In such
a way, the impact on the continued supply of live poultry could be minimised if
contingency measures are to be taken in the event of an AI incident to prevent
the spread of AI.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) Members of the public and the live poultry trade have suggested that the
Government should segregate imported live poultry from local ones and hold them
at a suitable location until AI test results are available before they are
allowed to be delivered to the wholesale market. In response to the suggestion,
the Government has been actively looking for appropriate sites (including Fu Tei
Au and other sites) for the temporary holding of imported live poultry. In the
course of the site search, the Government has to take into account factors
including the planning and use of the sites, the infrastructure required for the
temporary holding of live poultry, the impact of this arrangement on the
neighbouring environment and community (including the presence of any chicken
farms in the vicinity), and the lead time required for preparation. According to
the estimate by the relevant works department, it would take at least 15 months
to set up the proposed facilities after an appropriate site had been identified.
The site search as well as the setting up of the requisite facilities would take
time. To facilitate the early resumption of live poultry import from the
Mainland while keeping the AI risk under control, the Government has to consider
other practicable alternatives that would meet the public demand for live
poultry and reduce the impact on the live poultry trade. Having evaluated
various options, the Government is now focusing on the option of establishing a
check-point for local live chickens at the Government farm in Ta Kwu Ling.
(2) As mentioned above, we estimate that a lead time of at least 15 months will
be required to set up the segregation facilities. Should we keep suspending the
import of live poultry, the adverse impact on the supply of poultry would
persist. It would fall short of meeting public demand for live poultry and
affect the livelihood of those in the live poultry trade. As such, the
Government has to consider other alternatives to facilitate the early resumption
of live poultry import from the Mainland while keeping the AI risk under
control.
(3) When the import of live poultry from the Mainland resumes, we will keep the
existing arrangement of allowing delivery of imported live poultry already
tested in the Mainland (thus bearing official animal health certificates) to the
wholesale market, pending the results of tests conducted in Hong Kong. In the
event of an AI incident, appropriate measures will be implemented according to
our established contingency plan to contain the AI risk, including culling of
the potentially infected poultry and closure of the wholesale poultry market. In
future, during the closure of the wholesale poultry market, and subject to
confirmation that local poultry have not been affected by AI, local poultry may
be delivered to retail outlets via the check-point at the Government farm in Ta
Kwu Ling. This would help maintain the supply of local live poultry to the
market. The main objective of the above measure is to ensure the continued
supply of live poultry in Hong Kong as far as possible and reduce the possible
impact on the trade in case of an AI incident.
In the event of an AI incident which involves the culling of poultry, the
Government will make compensation according to the existing legislation. When
the Government rolled out the buyout scheme for the live poultry trade in 2008,
we had made clear to the Legislative Council and the trade that those operators
who chose to stay in the live poultry trade had to bear the risks of any adverse
impact on the operation of poultry business that may rise from further AI
incidents.
As the AI incident on January 27 came at a time when market demand for and the
price of live poultry peaked in the immediate run-up to the Lunar New Year, it
had dealt a particularly severe blow to live poultry operators. In view of this,
the Government granted one-off ex-gratia payments (EGPs) to the live poultry
trade. As there was a special case for granting the EGPs, this cannot be treated
as a precedent. In case of similar incidents (such as the suspension of import
of live poultry from the Mainland since February 19, 2014) in the future, the
Government will assess and consider them on a case-by-case basis.
Ends/Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:46
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