The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a temporary ban on the importation of poultry meat and other products derived from domestic and wild birds of Japan and Germany following the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus in those countries.
Outbreaks of H5 HPAI virus were found in Aomori-shi, Aomori and Sekikawa-mura, Niigata, Japan, affecting domestic ducks and layers as confirmed by Aomori Livestock Hygiene Service Center.
An H5N8 strain of HPAI virus, meanwhile, was recorded in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein, Germany affecting chicken, duck and turkey farms as confirmed by the National Institute for Animal Health of Germany.
In line with this, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol ordered the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application, and issuance of the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances to domestic and wild birds and their products including meat, day old chicks, eggs, and semen from Japan and Germany.
All DA veterinary quarantine officers and inspectors are also ordered to stop and confiscate shipments of the said agricultural products, except on heat treated ones, into the country at all major ports. (Aytch dela Cruz)
