Mainland frozen chicken imports may be banned if bird flu break out in the neighboring Guangdong Province, Hong Kong's Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food York Chow said Tuesday.

Speaking after meeting poultry traders, Chow defended the recent ban on live chicken imports as the latest bird flu case found in Guangzhou. The victim is an urban resident with no contact with farms. His only exposure to poultry has been in markets.

"Guangdong is one of the best provinces in terms of supervising the control of avian flu. So with that background, we would like to have time for the authorities concerned to investigate the case, to see whether there is any change in the virus, any problem with the vaccine or any other practice in the wet market that would contribute to this infection," Chow said.

The plan to cut the local chicken population to 2 million was originally scheduled to start during the Lunar New Year (beginning on January 29), but has been postponed after taking into account poultry traders' views.

Chow said the move will maintain the chicken population at a reasonable level to keep them in a safe and ideal environment, and alleviate people's worry in eating chicken.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2006)