Testing begins on live poultry imports

The city began testing imported live poultry for the H7N9 virus yesterday in response to the outbreak on the mainland which has killed 10 people.

In addition to the regular tests for the H5 virus, imported live poultry will now be subjected to the H7 rapid test before being sold, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said.

About 7,000 live chickens were imported from the mainland each day before the emergence of the new bird flu virus. The number fell to around 4,000 by last week, according to the department.

"Though bird flu is not threatening Hong Kong yet, people are worried. We have been selling fewer live chickens," said Steven Wong Wai-chuen, chairman of the Poultry Wholesalers and Retailers Association.

"As there is lower demand, fewer chickens are being imported," he said, estimating that sales of live chicken in Hong Kong have dropped by 40 per cent and that of frozen chicken is down by 20 to 30 per cent.

"It's no use lowering the prices, people are worried and they won't buy it no matter how cheap. We only hope that the source of infection will be found soon," he said.