Department of Agriculture bans poultry products from two countries

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is temporarily banning the entry of birds and poultry products from Japan and the Czech Republic, while allowing the resumption of such imports from the US state of Idaho.

In separate directives, Agriculture  Secretary Arthur Yap said the ban was imposed following official reports from the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or Animal Health Organization confirming outbreaks of the dreaded bird flu in the two countries.

The ban covers domestic and wild birds, and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.

At the same time, Yap has lifted the ban on the imports of these commodities from Idaho after the OIE had validated the report of the state’s National Surveillance Unit Epidemiologist Dr. Stan Bruntz that the bird flu had been eradicated in the area.

The US state of Idaho reported that the cleaning and disinfecting of the affected premises in Payette County were completed last Oct. 29 and that ongoing surveillance has not detected any additional AI cases.

Yap said that based on the evaluation of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the risk of contamination from importing poultry and poultry products from Idaho is “negligible.”

The OIE has confirmed the occurrence of low pathogenic AI in a farm in Toyohashi City following a report by Japan ’s International Animal Health Affairs Office of the Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau.

According to the OIE, it has also confirmed the outbreak of low pathogenic AI in a farm in Hodonin Jihomoravsky in the Czech Republic.

The DA ban and other emergency measures are necessary to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines which has remained free of bird flu ever since the H5N1 strain of this virus struck Asia six years ago.

The Philippines along with Brunei and Singapore are the only AI-free countries in Southeast Asia.