HONG KONG, April 9  -- Hong Kong has banned the import of poultry meat and products from Meeker County of State of Minnesota, the United States, due to an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza in the noted area, the city's Center for Food Safety (CFS) said on Thursday.

The CFS has contacted the U.S. authorities over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the World Organization for Animal Health on avian influenza outbreaks in the country, a CFS spokesman said.

Hong Kong imported about 267,000 tons of chilled and frozen poultry meat and some 530 million poultry eggs from the United States last year, according to CFS data.