Live poultry in South China's Guangdong Province is
"extremely safe" and ready to be exported to Hong Kong and Macao, provincial
officials said.
"None of Guangdong's 330 registered poultry farms, which provide poultry to
Hong Kong and Macao, have reported incidents of bird flu," said Huang Weiming,
deputy director of the Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau
(EEIQB).
"Antibody tests indicate the chickens at the registered farms are healthy."
Zhong Dechang, director of Guangdong's EEIQB, urged his co-workers to eat
chickens from the registered farms.
About 100 chickens have been eaten daily in IEQIA's canteen since February
11.
"We want to show the chickens from the registered farms ... are extremely
safe," Zhong said.
All of the registered farms' chickens have been vaccinated against avian
influenza, or bird flu, since August 2003.
The vaccination programme has been closely monitored by the State
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and its
counterparts in Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.
More than 60 million chickens had been vaccinated by December 1 in Guangdong
.
Other birds - including pigeons, partridges and pheasants - were vaccinated
before February 9.
The registered farms have been equipped with electronic monitoring systems to
ensure symptoms, if any occur, are quickly detected.
Live poultry exports from Guangdong to Hong Kong and Macao were suspended on
January 31.
However, exports of braised chickens to Hong Kong resumed six days later. The
daily export capacity has reached 5,000 chickens. All of the chickens were
raised by a registered farm in Huizhou, which is now the only poultry exporter
to Hong Kong and Macao.
The wholesale price of chickens in Hong Kong has soared, as only those birds
raised in Hong Kong are allowed to be sold in markets.
Guangdong now has more than 20 million live chickens - excluding those raised
in the Shenzhen and Zhuhai special economic zones - waiting to be exported to
Hong Kong and Macao.
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