The Philippines has slapped a temporary import ban on poultry products from Belgium after the European country confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or bird flu.
The Philippines imposes a temporary import ban on countries that have confirmed bird flu outbreaks to prevent the entry of the disease in the country to protect domestic poultry population.
Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar issued Memorandum Order (MO) 78 that authorized the imposition of the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products (poultry meat, day old chick, eggs and semen) from Belgium.
“There is a need to prevent the entry of HPAI virus to protect the health of the local poultry population,” Dar said in the MO released recently to the public.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Belgium officially reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) last December 9 its outbreak of H5N1 HPAI in Alveringem and Ravels, Vlaanderen. Citing Belgium’s report, DA noted that the outbreak affected domestic birds as confirmed by the European country’s national laboratory.
Belgium joins the growing list of European countries that are temporarily banned to export poultry products to the Philippines due to bird flu outbreaks. The Philippines has earlier banned poultry imports from Hungary and Netherlands.
The temporary import ban on Belgian poultry products puts another supply pressure on the domestic meat processing industry as the European country is one of its top sources of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) chicken. Chicken MDM is a vital raw material used by meat processors in manufacturing various goods like meat loaves, hot dogs, among others.
Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) data showed that the country’s chicken meat imports from Belgium from January to November has reached 54,238.362 metric tons, with the bulk of it or about 49,103.532 MT being chicken MDM. BAI data showed that Belgium is the country’s third biggest supplier of chicken meat products this year.
With the temporary import ban in place, the government has immediately suspended the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPS-IC) for Belgian poultry products.
“All shipments in transit/loaded/accepted unto port before the official communication of this order to the Belgian authorities shall be allowed provided the products were slaughtered/produced before November 19, 2021,” Dar said.