Wholesalers call off plan to release 5,000 live chickens onto Hong Kong streets
Minister vows to find delivery solution after poultry wholesalers said they would release 5,000 chicken in city's busiest areas
Nine poultry wholesalers who planned to release 5,000 live chickens in the city's busiest areas today called off their protest after the health minister vowed to find a way to improve delivery arrangements.
Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man yesterday said officials were looking at several proposals from traders unhappy about an arrangement in which all local chickens must be gathered for inspection at Ta Kwu Ling checkpoint while the Cheung Sha Wan market is disinfected. The checkpoint is too small to allow traders to offload the birds from trucks for distribution to the city's wet markets.
All 19,000 birds at the wholesale market were culled on Wednesday, and imports of live poultry from the mainland banned for three weeks, after samples from a farm in Huizhou, Guangdong, tested positive for the deadly H7N9 strain of bird flu.
The nine wholesalers have threatened to cease trading until imports resume unless the government rethinks the Ta Kwu Ling arrangement. Among their proposals is a suggestion to use a site in Yuen Long to inspect live birds before they go to market.
"I am delighted the industry workers are in talks with officials over possible ways to resume the live chicken supply in the coming days," Ko said yesterday. "I hope we can reach a decision [on arrangements] in one or two days."
Wholesaler Regal Cheng Chin-keung had threatened to release 5,000 live chickens in the streets in Tsim Sha Tsui and Central today if the government did not rethink the delivery arrangements. Last night, he called off the protest after a meeting with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. "The government has shown goodwill to solve the problem and promised to look into the possibility of using the new site," he said.