DA lifts import ban on poultry from Brazil

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on the importation of poultry meat from Brazil as the country was found compliant with good manufacturing practices in line with COVID-19 precautionary measures.

In a memorandum order, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said upon evaluation of the submitted documents requested by the Philippines, Brazil has provided evidence that the safety protocols enforced in different accredited foreign meat establishments (FMEs) are equivalent to the guidelines established by the Philippines relative to mitigating measures against COVID-10 in meat establishments.

“Based on the relevant information provided by Brazil, there is satisfactory evidence to show that food safety measures in compliance to good manufacturing practice are primarily considered in the daily operations of FMEs,” Dar said.

He added that all import transactions of poultry meat shall be in accordance with existing rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

The ban on poultry meat products from Brazil was imposed by the DA in August after China reported that some chicken wings shipped from the Latin American country tested positive for COVID-19.

The United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) earlier said the ban on Brazil imports was a cause for alarm, noting that Brazil is one of the major meat exporters to the Philippines.

The Philippines imported 64.2 million kilos of meat products in the first semester of the year. At least 43.27 million kilos or more than half came from Brazil.

“All of these banning and lifting are beside the point. If we have a genuine quarantine system in place, there will be confidence that the entry of diseases will be or at least, can be prevented,” UBRA president Elias Jose Inciong said.

Meanwhile, Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) president Jess Cham said the lifting of the temporary ban is a welcome development.

“Both countries should now put this incident behind and move forward. The more sources, the more competition. Now we hope that the bird flu outbreaks will be placed under control and trade can normalize,” he said.

In October, The STAR reported that Brazil is seriously considering elevating its trade concerns to the World Trade Organization (WTO) if the Philippines fails to immediately lift the ban on its poultry products.

In a letter sent by the Brazil embassy to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Latin American country questioned why the Philippines has not lifted the ban even if Brazil has already provided the necessary documents to the DA.

“Brazil is confident that the clarifications already provided to the Philippine authorities, from a technical point of view, are more than sufficient to support the immediate and complete revocation of the barrier imposed against imports of chicken meat from Brazil,” the letter said.

“Since such an unjustified and undue barrier has not been lifted so far, Brazil is determined to resort to the appropriate multilateral fora, including the filing of specific trade concerns to the detriment of the Philippines at the WTO anchored by the guidelines recommended by that organization,” the Brazil embassy said.

The DA partially lifted the ban in September, allowing only mechanically deboned meat to enter the Philippines.

Apart from the lifting of the Brazil poultry ban,the DA also lifted the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen originating Japan and England in the United Kingdom, it announced in separate memorandum orders.

The temporary importation ban from areas in Sweden, Poland, Korea and Belgium were also lifted.

The bans were earlier imposed in November, in line with preventing the entry of the H5N8 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus into the country.