MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) announced on Wednesday that it has temporarily banned imports of domestic and wild birds and poultry products from Minnesota, United States due to an ongoing outbreak of the High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 subtype or commonly known as bird flu.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed memorandum order No. 29 which imposes an import ban on domestic and wild birds including their products such as poultry meat, eggs, day-old chicks, and semen.
Laurel also instructed the Bureau of Animal Industry to suspend the processing, evaluation of applications, and issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary import Clearances of the birds.
The issuance of the import ban is based on the official report of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) that three counties in Minnesota have confirmed cases of H5N1 infections as of June 12.
In 2016, Philippine veterinary authorities and the US agreed that a state-wide ban could only be imposed if three or more counties of a state detected cases of avian influenza. It is a notifiable disease with “zoonotic potential,” that can be passed on to humans.
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Shipments from Minnesota that are already in transit or accepted into ports before the importation ban “shall be allowed provided that the products were slaughtered/produced 14 days before the first outbreak” from the place of origin, while those shipments that will not comply with the guidelines may be returned to the port of origin or disapproved.
In March, over 4,000 cases of avian influenza were reported in Leyte.
The DA lifted an import ban on poultry products from Minnesota due to bird flu last March.
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