DA BANS POULTRY PRODUCTS FROM JAPAN

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has ordered 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.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed a memorandum order on Thursday directing an immediate suspension on the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for the inward shipment of wild birds, poultry, and poultry products from Japan.

The DA said 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 Department added that 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 November 28.

According to the Japanese agency, they found the H5N1 strain on their wild and domesticated birds last November 24 in Kashima City, Saga Prefecture.

 “The import ban is necessary to protect the local poultry population from exposure to the H5N1 avian influenza strain,” Laurel said.

Last  Wednesday, the DA announced a temporary importation ban on poultry products produced in California and Ohio in the United States following a report of a  similar outbreak.