The Department of Agriculture (DA) temporarily barred the entry of imported poultry from Minnesota as the American state reported bird flu outbreaks.
The DA imposed the importation ban via Memorandum Order No. 29 effective immediately to protect consumers and the local poultry population.
The order covers domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen from Minnesota.
READ: Poultry products imported from Minnesota banned in PH due to bird flu
The rapid spread in the United States of avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1—which is highly pathogenic, easily inducing illness in an infected bird—“necessitates a wider coverage of trade restriction to prevent the entry of HPAI virus and protect the health of the local poultry population,” the order signed on July 15 read.
The DA ordered the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for these commodities.
However, the order excludes shipments that are already in transit, loaded, or accepted in the country’s port under the condition that they have been slaughtered or produced 14 days before the first Minnesota outbreak.
The DA promulgated the memo as the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspect Service informed the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) that there was an outbreak affecting domestic birds.
State-wide ban
As of July 15, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded that the virus affected 99.09 million birds across the country.
Philippine and US veterinary authorities agreed in 2016 that a state-wide ban could only be imposed if there are three or more counties affected with avian influenza in one state, given the geographical extent of America’s land mass.
The DA made the issuance nearly four months after it lifted a previous temporary ban on imports from Minnesota.
READ: DA bans US poultry products
In 2023, the Philippines imported 166,356 metric tons of poultry products valued at a total of $175.8 million from the US, the second-largest supplier of imported poultry.
In a related development, the DA lifted the temporary ban on poultry imports from the Czech Republic as the European country is now considered free of bird flu.
In Memorandum Order No. 30, the DA said importing domestic and wild birds and their products from the Czechia “is negligible.”
Czech authorities reported to the WOAH that all cases of avian influenza have ended with resolved status and that no additional outbreaks have been recorded since May 8. INQ