Live poultry sales banned from today, traders unhappy

Starting today, the import and sale of all live poultry in Macau is banned, the Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) said in a press conference on Friday.

IACM president José Tavares said Macau’s frozen chicken will still be provided by the farms that are currently supplying Macau’s chicken.

Ung Sau Hong, a member of the Administration Committee of IACM, said the ban is “due to the consideration of public hygiene and the actual needs of epidemic prevention.”

Local health authorities claim that the most effective way to prevent transmission of the virus is separating human and poultry, which will minimize the threat of avian flu out- breaks.

According to Ung, Macau’s frozen chicken will be slaughtered in Zhuhai.

At present, Macau’s frozen chicken is transported to Macau the day after the poultry is slaughtered.

IACM hopes that the quarantine process for chickens can be reduced to fewer than 10 hours, in order to ensure that the chicken will still be fresh.

However, the final quarantine procedure is still awaiting a decision by the market.

IACM is already in talks with the mainland quarantine department about the process. 

According to Ung, Macau had five avian flu outbreaks between February 2016 and February 2017.

As workers in the poultry industry will and have already been affected by the ban on poultry sales, the government will have further discussions with the industry in order to find reasonable compensation and financial support for the industry’s workers.

Regarding compensation for the previous ban on poultry sales, ICAM will distribute MOP200 in subsidies per day to each person affected, with the compensation period between February 7, 2017 and April 3, 2017.

The total subsidy amount to be distributed will be approximately MOP4.3396 million.

An additional payment to compensate importers will amount to approximately MOP1.85 million.

Last Friday morning, IACM issued an urgent notice to poultry businesses, requesting that the notified parties inform the department of their employee count to aid IACM in planning for further meetings with industry representatives.

The contacted businesses have until May 12 to deliver the relevant information to the department. IACM will have an official meeting with industry representatives on May 15.

The IACM president believes that in terms of hygiene and health, the public will know how to make the right choice for their food.

Poultry dealers protest

Dissatisfied sellers made their voices heard at the IACM headquarters on Friday. Claiming that he was speaking on behalf of 250 poultry dealers, Live Poultry Dealer Association chairman Leong Meng Lap told TDM in an emotional statement: “Of course we won’t accept [this], but what can we do? We’re not the government with the ultimate power. But we are not afraid of them. We only have one life and a job to fight for. Don’t force us all to go against them.”