DA lifts poultry import ban on Albania, Indiana

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted its temporary import ban on Albania and the US state of Indiana following the resolution of their respective outbreaks of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) or bird flu.

According to Department Circular (DC) 48, the DA has allowed the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen, from Indiana.

The agency noted that all affected counties within the US state have ended, with no additional outbreaks being reported.

The US and Philippines have an HPAI regionalization arrangement, a scheme that no longer imposes a country-wide ban on poultry imports during outbreaks of bird flu.

The policy instead restricts shipments only from areas with active animal disease cases. Under the agreement, a state-wide restriction will only be imposed if there are three or more counties affected by bird flu.

The DA has secured regionalization agreements with several other countries, including Spain, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Brazil, among others.

Meanwhile, the DA has also lifted its temporary ban on poultry and wild bird imports, including their products, from Albania, following the conclusion of its HPAI outbreak.

This was confirmed by the World Organization for Animal Health, which stated that all cases of HPAI have ended with resolved status and no additional outbreaks have been reported.

The DA added that based on this evaluation, the risk of contamination from importing live poultry and its products is negligible.

The agency previously imposed a temporary ban on all shipments of poultry and its products from Indiana and Albania under DC 10 and DA Memorandum Order 13.