Press Release - November 30, 2004

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced today (Tuesday) that it would resume processing applications for beef import from Canada with immediate effect.

"Having been satisfied with Canada's implementation of enhanced control measures against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, we will partially lift the suspension of imports of Canadian beef," a department spokesman said.

"At the initial stage, only boneless beef from cattle less than 30 months old, with high risk materials such as brain and spinal cord removed during slaughtering, could be imported from Canada. Each and every consignment of beef shall have the department's prior written permission and shall be accompanied by a health certificate," he said.

The import of beef from Canada has been temporarily suspended since May 21, 2003, after the detection of a case of BSE in Alberta, Canada.


For further information, please contact Stephen Siu, Assistant Director (Public Relations) at (416)924-5544, email [email protected] or Elison Chu, Senior Information Officer, [email protected]

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