ALL imported mainland chickens will have to come from registered farms, be tested for the H5N1 virus and issued with certificates, Agriculture and Fisheries Director Lessie Wei Shui Kit-yee said yesterday.
The scheme is part of a new plan to improve border controls of poultry entering the SAR in the wake of the bird flu scare.
Mainland imports are currently banned and there is no date yet for them to be resumed.
Ms Wei said border officers at Man Kam To import control point would have to check the new health certificates, which will have a serial number on them denoting where the chickens came from.
Department officers will then perform a 'quick test' of the chickens and seal the truck with an official stamp.
The trucks would have to deliver the chickens to either Cheung Sha Wan or Western poultry markets, Ms Wei said.
They will be held there in labelled cages until test results are available, usually within about two hours. They will be recalled if any virus is found, or otherwise allowed to be sold.