The government said it has temporarily suspended the issuance of import permits for poultry meat and other poultry products from three countries, where a lethal strain of the bird-flu virus has been detected.
In three separate memorandum orders published recently, the Department of Agriculture (DA) ordered the temporary ban on the importation of poultry meat and poultry products—including day-old chicks and semen—from Saudi Arabia and some parts of the Netherlands and Russia.
The DA made the decision after the three countries reported outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus in some of their poultry farms in the past two months to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
“There is a need to prevent the entry of the HPAI virus to protect the health of the local poultry population,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said in Memorandum Orders 3, 4 and 5, copies of which were given to reporters on February 8.
The Netherlands’s Ministry of Economic Affairs reported to the OIE that the H5N6 HPAI virus struck fattening ducks in Biddinghuizen, Flevoland.
Also, Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture reported to the OIE that the HPAI virus, with a strain of H5N2, was found in birds in ZAO Pticefabrika Kostromskaya, Kostromskoy, Kostromskoya Oblast. The bird-flu outbreak was confirmed by Moscow’s national laboratory.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture told the OIE that there were outbreaks of H5N8 HPAI in Riyadh, Al Kharj, and Al Mazahmyia,
which affected birds.
With the ban in place, the Philippine government has suspended the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance of domestic and wild birds and poultry products from affected areas in Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and Russia.
The DA warned that it will confiscate all shipments of the banned commodities originating from the two abovementioned countries. The ban does not cover heat-treated products.
“Frozen poultry meat with slaughter/process date of 21 days prior to the HPAI outbreaks are allowed to enter the country subject to veterinary quarantine rules and regulations,” Piñol said.
The Philippines does not source poultry products from Saudi Arabia and Russia.