The Department of Agriculture (DA) has slapped a temporary ban on poultry from Spain and Croatia and pork products from Italy due to the outbreak of animal diseases in the European countries.
In separate memorandum orders (MO) it issued on Wednesday, the DA said wild birds and their products including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen from Spain and Croatia are not allowed to enter the country in the meantime due to the outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1.
The bird flu outbreaks were confirmed by Laboratorio Central de Veterinaria de Algete of Spain and Croatian Veterinary Institute-Poultry Centre of Croatia.
“There is a need to prevent the entry of HPAI virus to protect the health of the local poultry population,” the DA said in the MOs it issued.
The agency warned that wild birds and poultry products from Croatia will be confiscated.
The DA also announced the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild pigs and their products including pork meat, pig skin, processed animal proteins and semen from Italy.
This came after the National Reference Laboratory for Classical and African Swine Fever confirmed that there was an outbreak of African swine fever in Ovada Province of Alessandria, Northern Italy.
The DA also ordered the suspension of processing and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for the said agricultural imports from Italy.
The said commodities from Spain are still allowed to enter the country if they were produced or slaughtered before December 30, 2021. The cut-off production date, meanwhile, for shipments from Italy is December 23, 2021.
Ban on cattle lifted
Meanwhile, the DA has announced that it has lifted the temporary ban it imposed on the importation of live cattle, meat and meat products, and bovine processed animal proteins derived from cattle from Canada and Germany.
The DA imposed the ban last year due to the detection of atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease.
The Philippines asked Canada and Germany to provide documentary requirements from their respective veterinary authorities regarding the “profile of BSE positive animals, disease response measures on these outbreaks and their national BSE surveillance activities.” Ottawa and Berlin immediately complied with the request, the DA said.
The DA said the two countries were able to provide “satisfactory evidence to show that risk of importation of cattle and its related commodities is negligible.”
While the ban has been lifted, the entry of the commodities into the Philippines is still subject to certain conditions.
“Boneless beef except meat from head, industrial, sangria and neck meat can be sourced from cattle of all ages devoid of any nerves and othe BSE-specified risk materials [SRM] shall be imported,” it said.
The boneless beef must be sourced from healthy ambulatory and not downer cattle.
Lastly, the packaging label should bear the slaughter date of the cattle or the production of the beef.
Image credits: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg