The Department of Agriculture has imposed a temporary ban on the importation of poultry and poultry products, including eggs and day-old chicks, from Japan due to an outbreak of avian influenza.
In a news release on Jan. 18, DA said Sec. Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed a memorandum order on Jan. 17 to immediately suspend the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for the inward shipment of wild birds, poultry, and poultry products from Japan.
“Only wild birds, poultry, and poultry products imported from Japan that are already in transit, loaded, and accepted on or before Nov. 10 will be allowed entry to the Philippines,” the DA said.
Shipments after Nov. 10 will either be returned to Japan, or confiscated and destroyed.
The import ban was imposed after Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported an outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza to the World Organization for Animal Health on Nov. 28.
The Japanese agency’s report showed an outbreak of the H5N1 strain after wild and domesticated birds in Kashima City in Saga Prefecture on Nov. 24.
The import ban is necessary to protect the local poultry population from exposure to the H5N1 avian influenza strain, the DA said. – PNA
