Press Releases
|
Additional testing for chickens from Ta Kwu Ling The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) will conduct additional testing for marketable chickens from farms in Ta Kwu Ling to prepare for the reopening of the wholesale poultry market. An AFCD spokesman said today (December 31), "Our staff have paid daily visits to the chicken farms in Ta Kwu Ling in the past few days and no unusual mortality was found. Younger chickens have been vaccinated to control the spread of avian influenza. "To prevent any infected chickens from getting to the market, our staff will conduct two rounds of inspections for any batch of marketable chickens coming from farms in Ta Kwu Ling." During the first visit to be conducted five days before selling the marketable batch, AFCD staff will randomly collect swabs from 60 chickens for rapid RNA testing in addition to the regular headcount of chickens to check for losses, close visual inspection for sick or dead chickens, and blood testing 14 birds. An additional inspection will be conducted within two days of the farms selling the marketable batch. Staff will again count the batch for unreported losses and closely inspect the whole marketable batch for dead or sick chickens. "Only after the marketable batch has passed all these tests would the chickens be allowed to be sold at the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market. "These enhanced inspection procedures will be implemented until April when the current vaccination trial at Pak Sha is completed and the result is reviewed," the spokesman said. He also noted that all the chicken farms in Hong Kong have implemented the main biosecurity measures. These include the prohibition of direct sale from farms to retail outlets, use of cages that have been properly cleaned at the wholesale market, and installation of disinfecting facilities at farm gate. "As part of the farm licensing condition, farmers are required to set up bird proofing of chicken sheds before the Chinese New Year. Of the 157 chicken farms in Hong Kong, 40 farms have already met such requirement and steps are being taken by 64 farms to set up bird-proofing nets. "The AFCD will remind the remaining farms to take action to meet this licensing condition. Failure to comply with this requirement may lead to cancellation of licence," he stressed. The AFCD remains on full alert and will continue to monitor the health conditions of chickens closely. In response to enquiries on how AFCD prevents malpractices amongst farmers, transporters and retailers, the spokesman explained that staff check regularly the number of chickens kept at the farms to make sure that farmers have not disposed of the chickens by illicit means. In carrying out blood testing, AFCD staff always select 14 chickens on a random basis from the marketable batch normally amounting to about 1,500 chickens. All consignments of chickens from local farms have to go through another round of inspection and testing when they reach the wholesale poultry market. The market staff would check, among other necessary documents, the vehicle number of trucks to ensure that one truck does not collect chickens from more than one farm every day, and that there is no substitution of consignments. The spokesman added that the department would continue to be vigilant and would step up checks when necessary to prevent malpractices. |
||
 |
||
|
||
|
