Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety (CFS) said on October 21, 2026, that it had instructed the trade to suspend imports of poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs, from North Northumberland in Northumberland County, United Kingdom, with immediate effect. The move followed a World Organisation for Animal Health notification of an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in the area.

A CFS spokesman said Hong Kong imported about 340 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat from the UK in the first six months of this year. He said the CFS had contacted the British authorities and would closely monitor information from the WOAH and relevant authorities on the outbreak, taking appropriate action as the situation developed.

The restriction applies to the specified area of Northumberland, not to UK poultry imports as a whole, and covers poultry meat, poultry products and eggs. The import figures cited refer to the UK overall for that six-month period.