Department of Agriculture bans cattle from Taiwan, Lebanon

MANILA, Philippines - MANILA, Philippines -The Department of Agriculture (DA) is temporarily banning the importation of cattle and other animals susceptible to the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) from Taiwan and Lebanon.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap issued an import ban after the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or World Animal Health Organization validated reports about the outbreak of the disease in those two countries.

In Lebanon, the presence of FMD was detected in a dairy cattle farm in the province of Kamed el Iouz.

In Taiwan , the disease broke out in several swine farms in the province of Maoliao Township, Yun-Lin and Beidou Town in Chang-hua.

The DA order includes the immediate suspension of the processing and issuance of veterinary quarantine clearance (VQC) to import hooved animals from Lebanon and Taiwan.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that strikes cloven-hoofed animals.

Yap said the ban was is in line with the DA’s continuing initiatives to obtain a formal declaration from OIE confirming that the Philippines is FMD-free.

The DA has an existing ban on imports of cattle and other FMD-susceptible animals from China after the OIE had confirmed outbreaks of the disease in the Chinese provinces of Hubei and Xinjiang.

The Arroyo administration wants the OIE to certify Luzon as FMD- free to pave the way for the global declaration of the Philippines as an FMD-free country.

“A global declaration of the country’s FMD-free status will help Filipino hog producers penetrate the export market and make the Philippines a viable site for halal food production,” Yap said.

Luzon is the only remaining area in the country that has not yet been declared by the OIE as FMD-free, according to Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) officials.

BAI Director Davinio Catbagan said the OIE had already declared as FMD-free the entire Mindanao in May 2001.

Also declared FMD-free are the provinces of Masbate, Palawan, and the entire Visayas region.

The DA aims to secure OIE certification for most of Luzon as FMD-free “without vaccination,” while the regions of Central Luzon and the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon or Calabarzon area as FMD-free areas with vaccination.

Catbagan pointed out that the Philippines has not had an FMD outbreak in over three years.

The last case of FMD was reported in Lucban, Quezon on December 28, 2005.