Philippines lifts poultry import ban on Japan, Missouri

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has lifted the temporary ban on poultry imports from Japan and Missouri in the United States due to resolved outbreaks of the avian virus.

In separate memorandum orders signed by then undersecretary for Operations Leocadio Sebastian on Aug. 12, the Department of Agriculture (DA) lifted the temporary importation ban on the two countries, which covered poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.

The DA said based on respective final reports of the three countries to the World Animal Health Organization (WOAH), the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) events have already been closed and resolved.

“Based on the evaluation of the DA, the risk of contamination from importing poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen is negligible,” the DA said in two separate memorandum orders.

The DA earlier issued a temporary ban on poultry imports from Japan in November 2021, due to an outbreak of HPAI in Yokote City in Akita Prefecture, Japan.

Meanwhile, in March, the DA issued a temporary ban on poultry imports from several US states, including Missouri due to reported cases of HPAI.

The ban also covered the states of South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa in the US.

Aside from Missouri, the temporary poultry imports ban remain.

“All import transactions of the above bird species shall be in accordance with existing rules and regulations of the DA,” Sebastian said in the recent memorandum orders.

“All orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this order are hereby repealed or amended accordingly,” he said.

The two memorandum orders were effective immediately.

In June, the DA also lifted the poultry import ban from four countries due to resolved HPAI cases.

Among these countries are Belgium, Czech Republic, Spain and Denmark.