Live poultry imports to Macau will cease permanently due to concerns over the bird flu virus, Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan said on Thursday.
The decision follows the discovery last month of the H7N9 influenza virus in a sample collected from the Nam Yuet wholesale market.
“Central slaughtering means the chickens will not be sent to the market [anymore],” she said as cited by public broadcaster TDM.
“As long as there are live chickens and avian flu, chickens still have to be slaughtered [so] the problem will still be unresolved,” she added.
No decision has yet been made with regard to how the MSAR will supply consumers with chicken after the import ban, however the secretary added that “it will be necessary to issue permits” for the import of pre-slaughtered and frozen poultry.
(Macau News / Macau Daily Times)
