NAIA tightens watch vs poultry products from UK

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) authorities are now strictly monitoring flights from the United Kingdon to ensure that no live birds, live poultry, and poultry products from that country will enter the Philippines.

Veterinary Quarantine Services (VQS) officer-in-charge Dr. Simeon Amorao Jr. said veterinary inspectors have been alerted after the Department of Agriculture (DA) issued an importation ban on Tuesday.

The ban was issued after the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or the Animal Health Organization confirmed the presence of a highly pathogenic strain of the bird flu virus in the UK, where the outbreak was first reported on a turkey farm in Holton, Suffolk.

Amorao said all poultry products from the UK will be confiscated and properly disposed of in order to keep the Philippines bird flu-free.

"We have also stopped issuing import permits for poultry products coming from England," he told The Star in an interview yesterday.

He explained that traditionally, the country does not import live poultry or poultry products from the UK but NAIA is nevertheless on alert.

Amorao said the DA has banned the importation of livestock and poultry products from over 40 countries worldwide since the bird flu of avian influenza virus was discovered. He provided The STAR a list of these countries.

At present, the Philippines is among the only three bird flu-free countries in Southeast Asia, along with Brunei and Singapore.

World Health Organization records showed that 272 people have been infected with the virus and some 166 people have died since the virus resurfaced in South Korea in 2003.

Amorao said that before the bird flu problem, China was the country’s biggest importer of livestock and poultry products.