Hong Kong has banned the import of poultry meat and products from Okanogan County, Washington State of the United States and Burgas Province of Bulgaria, the city's Center for Food Safety (CFS) said on Thursday.

The action was taken in view of notifications from the American authorities and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N2 and H5N1 avian influenza in the noted areas.

A CFS spokesman said about 267,000 tones of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 530 million poultry eggs were imported into Hong Kong from the United States last year, while Hong Kong did not import any poultry meat or poultry eggs from Bulgaria.

"The CFS has contacted the American and Bulgarian authorities concerned over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on avian influenza outbreaks," the spokesman said.