THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has ordered a temporary ban on imports of domestic and wild birds from Belgium after the exporting country sent notice to the World Organization for Animal Health about local outbreaks of H5N1 high pathogenicity avian influenza.
A memorandum order from Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. — signed on April 3 but released only yesterday — said the outbreaks were detected from domestic birds in Sint-Niklaas, Oost-Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen, last February 20 with the infection also confirmed by Belgium’s public and animal health research agency Sciensano.
Memorandum order No. 20 series of 2025 also suspended the issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearances by the Bureau of Animal Industry for poultry products from Belgium including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.
“All shipments coming from Belgium that are in transit/load/accepted unto port before the official communication of this order to the Belgian authorities shall be allowed provided that the products were slaughtered/produced on or before February 3, 2025,” Tiu Laurel said in the document.
Shipments not meeting these conditions will either be sent back to Belgium, shipped to a third country, or seized and destroyed, it said.
Veterinary quarantine officers are also required to confiscate all non-compliant shipments, except for heat-treated products.
As of end-2024, Belgium exported a total of 5.25 million kilograms of chicken meat to the Philippines, equivalent to 1.1 percent of the country’s total volume of chicken imports for the period at 472.21 million kg.
Last month, the DA lifted the temporary ban on importation of domestic and wild birds as well as poultry products from France after no additional outbreaks of avian influenza (HPAI) were reported after February 4.
Last year’s outbreak in France had prompted the DA to impose restrictions on French poultry imports, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen.
