The Department of Agriculture has temporarily banned the importation of live cattle and water buffalo — along with their products and by-products — from France and Italy after confirmed outbreaks of lumpy skin disease or LSD.
In a statement on Sunday, the DA said LSD causes fever and distinctive skin nodules in infected animals.
The disease spreads through blood-feeding insects such as flies, mosquitoes and ticks. While rarely fatal, it can significantly cut milk production, cause weight loss and disrupt trade.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed the ban under Memorandum Orders 43 and 44 on August 1, though the orders were made public only this weekend. The measure also covers cattle and buffalo embryos and semen.
Exemptions include salt-treated hides; meal and flour from blood, meat other than skeletal muscle, or bones; casings, gelatin and collagen; tallow; hooves and horns; and pasteurized milk and milk products.
The DA said Italy reported an outbreak on July 18 in Orani, Nuoro, Sardegna, confirmed by the National Reference Centre for Exotic Animal Diseases. France reported a case on June 23 in Chambéry, verified by its veterinary office.
The ban will remain until further notice, pending containment and eradication efforts in the affected countries.
Bureau of Animal Industry data show the Philippines has not imported meat from Italy this year. From France, it imported 245,673 kilograms of beef from January to April — about 0.4 percent of the 56.33 million kilograms of beef brought into the country during that period.
