The Department of Agriculture has issued a temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products from the United States, Hungary, and Japan.
The DA issued three separate memorandums signed by Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban declaring the ban on the importation of poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen from the three countries.
The ban calls for the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application, and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance of these commodities.
It said shipments coming from affected areas that are in transit, loaded, and accepted unto port before the official communication of the order shall be allowed, provided that the products were slaughtered/produced on or before Aug. 4, 2022.
The agency said that based on the reports submitted by the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington DC to the World Organization for Animal Health in August, there were additional outbreaks of H5N1 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza in California affecting domestic birds.
The DA said the rapid spread of H5N1 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza in the US in a short period of time necessitates a wider coverage of trade restrictions to prevent the entry of the HPAI virus and protect the health of the local poultry population.
The agency also cited the report submitted by Ministry of Agriculture of Budapest to the WOAH on Nov. 4, 2022 that there were outbreaks of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza virus in Kiskunmajsa and Bugac, Bacs-Kiskun, Hungary.
It also received a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan to the WOAH on Nov. 1, 2022 that there were outbreaks of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza virus in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, and Atsuma Town, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan.
Meanwhile, the DA lifted the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products from Nova Scotia, Canada, and Poland.
Based on the evaluation of the DA, the risk of contamination from importing poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen from Nova Scotia, Canada and Poland are negligible.
“All import transactions of the above bird species shall be in accordance with existing rules and regulations of the DA,” it said.