Stop mainland China chicken imports, says Hong Kong vet

The city should stop importing live poultry from the mainland to cut the risk of the deadly H7N9 bird flu entering Hong Kong, said the government's former top vet who is a specialist in epidemics.

Howard Wong Kai-hay, who was principle veterinary officer at the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department until late last year, warned the inspection process was not thorough enough and food safety was at risk.

Experts have said imported poultry is the most likely path for the new bird flu to pass from the mainland into Hong Kong. There is so far no indication that the virus is capable of human to human transmission.

Wong, who is now head of City University's life sciences programmes, wants to see a change in government policies to encourage the city - where farmed birds are subject to a mandatory vaccination scheme and stringent AFCD inspection once every seven days - to become self-sufficient in poultry.

"Getting rid of local farms was the wrong direction to take," said Wong.

"The government wanted to eliminate local farms to lower the risk of bird flu after the pandemic in 1997, but it has had the opposite effect.