HONG KONG - The food safety authority of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) announced on Friday the suspension of import and sale of raw oyster harvested in zone 50.14 in Manche in France.

A spokesman for the Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the HKSAR government's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it received a notification from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the European Commission that raw oysters harvested in the above-mentioned area were found to be contaminated with norovirus and are under recall.

For the sake of prudence, the CFS has immediately suspended the import into and sale within Hong Kong of all raw oysters harvested in the area concerned, the spokesman added.

According to information provided by the RASFF, a small quantity of raw oysters harvested in the area concerned were imported into Hong Kong. The CFS is conducting follow-up investigation.

The CFS will inform the French authorities of the import suspension and will also notify the local trade.