DA renews ban on poultry products from South Korea

The Department of Agriculture has renewed the ban on the entry of wild birds and all poultry products from South Korea after it confirmed the report of the resurgence of bird flu in that country.

DA regional director Eduardo Lecciones said they are keeping an eye on Korean poultry products and wild birds after the animal health authorities in South Korea confirmed the presence of bird flu in their country.

Lecciones said the department has already issued the ban last November based on the report from the director of Korea’s Animal Health Division submitted to the Office International des Epizooties or the Animal Health Organization.

Lecciones said the ban includes Korean domestic and wild birds and their products, including day-old chicks, eggs and even semen.

The report said there was an outbreak of low pathogenic avian flu of serotype H7N3 in a duck-raising farm in South Korean’s Yongdoo-dong area.

DA Secretary Arthur Yap ordered quarantine officers and inspectors at all major airports and seaports to stop and confiscate shipments of live birds and poultry products from South Korea.

In a press statement, Yap also suspended the issuance of Veterinary Quarantine Clearances to all imports covering these products.

As of January 2008, the World Health Organization reported that about 216 out of the 348 people infected with the bird flu virus have died since the disease was first detected in Southeast Asia in 2003.

WHO experts have expressed concern over the possibility that the virus will mutate into a deadlier strain that will make it easier for the avian influenza to jump from fowls to humans and then from person to person, which could lead to a pandemic.

The ban was given in order to ensure that the country’s P60 billion-poultry industry will not be affected by bird flu.

Other ban includes poultry products from the United Kingdom and Japan after the detection of the presence of bird flu virus in these countries. — Ferliza C. Contratista/LPM