Saturday to be next poultry industry Rest Day
Updated at 5.32pm: Hong Kong's poultry vendors have to clean and disinfect their premises during the next Rest Day this Saturday, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has announced.
A department spokesman on Thursday urged poultry retailers to strictly observe the Rest Day conditions.
Rest Days were introduced in Hong Kong following recent Avian bird flu outbreaks in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. They are designed to give the poultry industry time to maintain strict hygiene standards and eliminate surplus supplies to reduce the risk of a future outbreak.
Rest-Day conditions require operators of market stalls and fresh provision shops to slaughter all live poultry remaining on their premises before noon on Saturday. They also had to suspend business on Saturday afternoon and evening to carry out cleaning and disinfection, the spokesman explained.
Live poultry could be sold on Saturday morning but none should be sold from noon until the following morning, he said.
'We remind stall owners and licensees that they must not remove any unsold live poultry from their premises to avoid slaughtering them before the start of the Rest Day,' the spokesman said.
'Our staff will inspect the poultry outlets on the Rest Day. Failure to comply with the Rest Day conditions will lead to immediate cancellation of fresh provision shop licences or termination of market stall tenancies,' he warned.
The Health, Welfare and Food Bureau on Wednesday announced that more live chickens would be imported to the city from China for three days next week. The tentative measure was intended to meet the surge in demand for chickens during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the bureau said.
Recently in Vietnam, some 60 people have died of bird flu - which is commonly spread through poultry. Health authorities are concerned the disease could spread to other parts of Southeast Asia.
