Poultry industry prepares for next Rest Day on Sunday
Updated at 5.47pm: Hong Kong's poultry vendors have to clean and disinfect their premises during the next Rest Day this Sunday, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has announced.
A department spokesman on Friday urged poultry retailers to strictly observe the Rest Day conditions.
Rest Days were introduced following recent 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 Sunday. They also had to suspend business on Sunday afternoon and evening to carry out cleaning and disinfection, the spokesman explained.
'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.
Hong Kong's health authorities are concerned the disease could spread to the territory after two children died in a bird flu outbreak in Indonesia earlier this week.
