Philippines bans poultry imports from 3 countries over bird flu

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and its products from three countries following an outbreak of an avian virus.

In separate memorandum orders issued by the Office of the Secretary, the DA has instituted the ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen from France, South Korea and the Netherlands.

Based on the official report submitted to the World Organization for Animal Health, there was an outbreak of H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus in the provinces of Jeolla, Gyeongsang, Gyeonggi and Chungcheong in South Korea that affects chickens and ducks.

The same H5N8 HPAI virus was also detected in Corsica, Aquitaine and Pays de la Loire in France that affects birds.

There were also additional outbreaks of H5N8 in Utrecht, Friesland and Zuid-Holland in the Netherlands affecting birds.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar issued an immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) import clearance to the said commodities.

Dar said there would be a stoppage and confiscation of all shipments of the commodities into the Philippines by all DA veterinary quarantine officers at all major ports of entry.

For France, all incoming poultry shipments with SPS import clearance issued on or before Dec. 21 will be allowed, provided that frozen poultry meat has a slaughter or process date of 21 days prior to the HPAI outbreak on or before Oct. 17.

For the Netherlands, all incoming poultry shipments with SPS import clearance issued on or before Dec. 18 will be allowed, provided that frozen poultry meat has a slaughter or process date of 21 days prior to the HPAI outbreak on or before Oct. 8.

All shipments in transit shall be allowed regardless of the production date provided that the products were not sourced from the specific areas mentioned in the said countries.

All shipments will still be subject to veterinary quarantine rules and regulations.

The memorandum order was issued to prevent the entry of the HPAI virus to protect the health of the public and the local poultry population, and is set to take effect immediately.

Apart from the three countries, the DA has already instituted a ban for poultry imports from Denmark, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, United States, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Romania, among others.