Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety (CFS) instructed the trade on September 28, 2026 to suspend imports of poultry meat, eggs and products from four US counties affected by highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, with immediate effect. The suspension follows World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) notifications of outbreaks in Turner County (South Dakota), Becker and Otter Tail Counties (Minnesota) and LaMoure County (North Dakota).
Hong Kong importers of US chilled and frozen poultry meat, importers and distributors of US poultry eggs, and the retailers, restaurants and caterers they supply must immediately suspend shipments from those four counties, verify origin documentation against the affected areas, and re-source from non-affected US zones, or face refused entry and seizure of affected shipments at the border and prosecution under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132) and the Food Safety Ordinance (Cap. 612).
What does the suspension cover?
The CFS, part of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, directed the trade to halt imports of poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs, sourced from the four named counties. The trigger is WOAH confirmation of highly pathogenic H5N1 in those areas, and the suspension takes effect immediately. The measure is a class-wide geographic import control, not a recall of a specific batch or brand, and poultry meat and eggs originating elsewhere in the United States are not affected.
| State | Affected county |
|---|---|
| South Dakota | Turner County |
| Minnesota | Becker County |
| Minnesota | Otter Tail County |
| North Dakota | LaMoure County |
According to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 24,190 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 20.2 million poultry eggs from the United States in the first six months of 2026, which shows the trade volume exposed to geographic suspensions of this kind.
Who is exposed, and by when?
The suspension bites four groups by market exposure. Hong Kong importers of US chilled and frozen poultry meat must hold back stock sourced from the four counties; importers and distributors of US poultry eggs face the same bar; retailers, restaurants and caterers sourcing US poultry products must trace the origin of what they buy; and US poultry meat and egg exporters shipping to Hong Kong must redirect supply away from the affected counties. For US exporters, county-level origin is what determines whether a shipment remains eligible, so consignments must be documented to the county of origin.
The deadline is immediate. The CFS instructed the trade to suspend with immediate effect, so there is no grace period for shipments already in transit from the four counties.
What to check in the supply chain
- Identify and quarantine any chilled or frozen poultry meat, eggs or products originating from Turner, Becker, Otter Tail or LaMoure Counties.
- Verify origin documentation, including health certificates and country-of-origin labelling, against the affected areas for every US poultry line on hand.
- Re-source US poultry supply from non-affected zones, and confirm with US exporters that shipments do not originate in or transit the four counties.
- Update procurement records and traceability logs kept under the Food Safety Ordinance (Cap. 612) to reflect the suspended origins.
- Brief inbound logistics, customs brokers and warehouse teams so affected shipments are not presented at the Hong Kong border.
What happens to non-compliant shipments
Affected shipments are refused entry and seized at the Hong Kong border. Non-compliance is liable to prosecution under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), which sets Hong Kong's food composition, contaminant and hygiene standards, and the Food Safety Ordinance (Cap. 612), which requires food importers and distributors to register, keep traceability records and obey food safety orders. The CFS has contacted the US authority and says it will monitor WOAH and the relevant authorities, with further action as the avian influenza situation develops.
Continuous, per-jurisdiction real-time monitoring surfaces import suspensions like this the moment a regulator publishes them, so trade and compliance teams can re-source before a shipment reaches the border.
Compliance and procurement leads should confirm whether any in-transit or warehoused US poultry originates in the four counties, re-route supply from non-affected zones, and keep the Cap. 612 traceability records ready for inspection. Obsidian's per-jurisdiction monitoring feed tracks the next CFS suspension as it publishes.
