Lifting of poultry import ban to ease MDM shortage

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) welcomed the lifting of the ban on poultry imports from the Netherlands, saying this would help ease the shortage of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) raw materials for the industry.

“We appreciate the action of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in accordance with the guidelines of the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) on the resolution of avian flu outbreaks,” PAMPI said in a statement yesterday.

In a memorandum order issued Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar lifted the temporary ban on the Netherlands which covers poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.

The DA imposed the ban in January amid official reports submitted to the OIE showed hat there were widespread outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus in the said country.

Based on the final report submitted by the veterinary authorities of the Netherlands to the OIE, the outbreaks in the country have now been resolved.

Dar said the Netherlands has already provided the Philippine government all the necessary supporting documentary evidence on the disease control measures carried out by their veterinary services to contain the HPAI outbreaks in their country.

He stressed that only poultry meat sourced from the Netherlands or from countries granted system accreditation by the Philippines shall be authorized to be exported into the country.

Dar said other system-accredited countries must also have no current ban issued by the DA due to HPAI outbreaks.

In April, the DA allowed the importation of MDM from the Netherlands.

The partial lifting was issued to grant the request of meat importer processors with thermal processing equipment to import MDM for processing from HPAI-free zones in the Netherlands as declared by the OIE.

“We expect that the bans on UK, France and Germany will also be lifted immediately as soon as the outbreaks are resolved,” PAMPI said.

Currently,temporary bans on poultry imports from the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, France, Sweden, Russia, Poland and Czech Republic remain in effect.

“We also hope that the DA will act faster and more expeditiously on pending requests of trading partners for accreditation to export MDM to the Philippines,”the group said.

PAMPI emphasized that MDM is a major raw material in the production of processed meats and is not locally produced.

“Hence, we fully support the move of EU (Hungary and Poland) and non-EU (Turkey) producers of MDM to be accredited to export to the Philippines,”PAMPI said.

“The more supply sources we have, the more competitive prices we get which will result in stable supply and pricing for our consumers,”it said.

Under the Revised Administrative Code, the DA has the power to issue a general order preventing the entry of animals, animal effects, parts or products from any country with dangerous communicable animal disease.

Earlier this week, the DA lifted the ban on poultry imports from the Ukraine as the country was declared free from HPAI.

Last month, the DA also lifted the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their by-products from Lethbridge in Victoria, Australia as the area was also declared free from the avian virus.