Department of Agriculture bans fowl imports from France, Germany for now

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is temporarily banning the entry of birds and poultry products from France and Germany in line with sustained efforts to keep the Philippines free of the Avian Influenza (AI) or bird flu virus.

In separate directives, DA officials said the ban was imposed on bird and poultry imports from Germany and France after official reports from the World Organization on Animal Health or Office International des Epizooties (OIE) confirmed outbreaks of the dreaded AI virus in these two European countries.

Based on a report by Dr. Jean Luc Angot, director general adjoint of France, the OIE confirmed an occurrence of low pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) in Saint Aubin du Plain.

The global animal health organization also received a report from Prof. Werner Zwingmann, head of the Department of Animal Health and Food Hygiene, Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) on the occurrence of LPAI in a farm in Thuringen, Germany.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap signed Memorandum Order 31 imposing the temporary ban on bird and poultry imports from Saint Aubin Du Plain, France, while DA Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla signed MO 32 slapping the ban on similar imports from Germany.

The 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 struckAsia six years ago.

The Philippines, along with Brunei and Singapore, are only the threeA1-free countries in Southeast Asia.

The DA’s quarantine officers and inspectors at all major airports and seaports have been ordered to stop and confiscate all shipments of live birds, poultry and poultry products into the country originating from Germany and France.

The immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of Veterinary Import Clearances (VQCs) to all imports covering the products from the banned areas is also mandated by the DA orders.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that as of mid-December, there have been 445 laboratory-confirmed cases of bird flu and 263 fatalities from the disease since the H5N1 strain of the virus broke out in Southeast Asia in 2003 and then spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In other Asian countries like Indonesia, 115 deaths have been recorded so far, while 25 fatalities from the AI virus were reported in China; 17 in Thailand; and 57 in Vietnam, WHO data show.

The DA has set up community-based early warning systems (CBEWS) in selected barangays identified as high risk of contracting the AI virus.

The CBEWS are part of the DA’s continuing measures to keep the Philippines AI-free.

The CBEWs will orient Barangay AI Task Forces on the bird flu and the reporting process for AI suspects (both in poultry and humans) as well as the possible smuggling of poultry and exotic birds in their localities.

Under its Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP), the DA is also implementing an Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training (AVET) program to strengthen the capacity of the field veterinary services, especially at the local level, in designing and managing disease surveillance, conducting outbreak investigation and effective outbreak containment measures.

Besides these measures, 20 critical areas are under surveillance especially during the bird migration season of October to February.

The government currently has four avian flu testing facilities located in Zamboanga City, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu City and San Fernando in Pampanga.

The laboratories in Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga and Cebu complement the ongoing work being done at the Regional Avian Influenza Diagnostic Laboratory (RAIDL), in San Fernando, Pampanga, which is the country’s first diagnostic facility meant to promptly detect the AI virus.