Yap lifts ban on Belgian poultry

MANILA, Philippines – Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has lifted the ban on imports of birds and poultry products from Belgium following confirmation from global animal health authorities that such commodities originating from that country are now free of the Avian influenza (AI) or bird flu virus.

Yap declared the entry of these products into the country, including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen, as safe after an evaluation made by the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed that “the risk of the contamination from importing poultry and poultry products from Belgium is negligible.”

BAI had based its evaluation on the confirmation by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) of the report by Brussels ’ Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) declaring “that the H5N2 low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) incident in Belgium has been successfully eradicated.”

The report said that “the cleaning and disinfection of the affected premises was completed on Dec. 23, 2008 and that on-going surveillance has not detected any additional cases.”

As of April 17, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 257 human deaths out of the 418 confirmed cases of the bird flu since the highly pathogenic strain of the virus broke out in Southeast Asia in 2003.

Besides Singapore and Brunei, the Philippines is the only AI-free country in Southeast Asia.   – Marianne Go