Press Releases

AFCD takes measures to prevent import of new strains of FMD virus
Friday, March 23, 2001

The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has taken measures to prevent the import of new strains of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) virus by suspending the importation of live pigs, cattle, sheep and goats from places where FMD outbreaks occur.

An AFCD spokesman said today (March 23) that the importation of infected cloven-hoofed animals, such as pigs, cattle, sheep and goats, represents the biggest risk of introducing new strains of FMD virus into Hong Kong.

"Thus, we prohibit imports of cloven-hoofed animals from the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and all South East Asian countries with FMD.

"We have also suspended the import of cloven-hoofed animals from the Republic of Ireland in view of an outbreak of FMD there," the spokesman said.

He stressed that the risk of introducing new strains of FMD virus via the importation of meat is very low. Meat from infected livestock can only re-infect other livestock if the meat is fed to them.

"As swill feeding is rarely practised in local farms, pig infection due to consumption of imported meat is very unlikely," he added.