RP poultry raisers seek ban on US chicken imports

Philippine commercial poultry raisers asked the government yesterday to immediately ban the importation of chicken from the United States following reports that those being sold here are chemically contaminated and could endanger the health and lives of Filipinos.

Sources from the commercial poultry raising sector furnished The STAR copies of foreign news reports indicating Russian authorities had seized two rail cars of US poultry that might be chemically contaminated.

The Meat News Update (April 12 newsletter) downloaded from the Internet said that an investigation was underway to determine the source and nature of the chemical.

Another report, this time from the International Egg and Poultry Review published by the US Department of Agriculture's agriculture marketing service, confirmed the report but asserted that the poultry was certified safe by the USDA before leaving the US, and again, by Russian and German veterinary inspectors after arriving in Germany.

The Review continued: "Authorities believe the shipment may have been contaminated with a chemical compound while in transit through Lithuania and Latvia to Russia."

It confirmed that the leg quarters were part of a shipment of US food aid sent to Russia.

Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara revealed that US chicken leg quarters being sold in duty-free stores and in other outlets were labeled as "For shipment to Russia" but found their way to the Philippine market.

"We already knew that what are being sold here were rejects. But we did not know why they were rejected by the Russian market," Department of Agriculture officials said.

The Philippine government is also looking at reports that US chicken being sold here are already spoiled, aside from their possible contamination with harmful chemicals.

Angara explained that chicken being sold more than three months after they had been processed might no longer be safe for human consumption.

Some of the US chicken being sold have been processed six months previously.

Health-conscious Americans have stopped buying the dark meat portion of the chicken, which includes the leg quarters, and are opting for the leaner but higher-priced breast or white meat. Because of this, US poultry raisers have started dumping leg quarters at dirt-cheap prices into the world market.

In 1999 for instance, US exports of chicken parts to the Philippines soared to 31,899 metric tons from only 2,753 metric tons in 1998, or a 1,059-percent increase.

Last January, chicken imports from the US reached 2,933 metric tons as against only 441 metric tons during the same month last year.

The same trend was observed in February when imports reached 3,121 metric tons from only 766 in February last year.