PH lifts Japan, Hungary, Czech poultry ban

MANILA  -The government is now allowing the entry of poultry products from Hungary, Japan and the Czech Republic, citing slim risk of bird flu coming from these nations, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

The DA promulgated separate issuances to lift the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen from the three countries.

Based on its evaluation, “the risk of contamination from importing poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen is negligible.”

The DA issued the orders as Hungary informed the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) that 168 reported events of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) had ended with resolved status and no additional outbreaks.

In Japan, it resolved 84 cases and has no additional outbreaks of avian influenza.

READ: 7.7 million birds culled in Japan as bird flu continues to spread

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic reported to the WOAH it had resolved all HPAI events and no new outbreaks were recorded.

To recall, the DA had imposed a temporary ban on poultry imports from Hungary, Japan and the Czech Republic in 2022 due to the HPAI outbreak in these countries.

At that time, the DA saw the necessity to impose an import ban to protect the health of the local poultry population.

READ: What’s the government’s plan vs bird flu? Tolentino wants to know

In the Philippines, the country is still battling this animal disease. As of Aug. 4, there were active cases of HPAI in two regions, two provinces, five municipalities and eight barangays, data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed.

READ: Gov’t reinforces control measures against bird flu

INQ