HONG KONG, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's food safety authority decided on Tuesday to suspend the import of poultry meat and products from different areas in France, Britain, Germany, South Korea due to the bird flu outbreaks.

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said this was in view of notifications from the World Organization for Animal Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of South Korea about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Pyrénées-Atlantiques Department and Hautes-Pyrénées Department of France, Mid and East Antrim District in Antrim County of Northern Ireland in Britain, Nordhausen District in the State of Thüringen of Germany and Jinju-si and Geochang-gun of Gyeongsangnam-do Province of South Korea.

The CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs, from these areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.