The Department of Agriculture (DA) has banned the importation of poultry and other poultry products, including wild birds from Belgium and France.
DA said the move was made after the two European countries reported to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) their respective outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in domestic birds.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the bans were necessary to prevent the possible entry of HPAI-H5N1 in the Philippines.
“We’re doing this to protect the health of our local poultry population as well as poultry workers and consumers since H5N1 is a virus that can be transmitted to humans by infected animals,” Laurel said.
DA added that Belgium and France that shares a border, almost simultaneously reported the bird flu outbreak in domestic birds to the WOAH.
Belgium submitted its report on December 1, 2023 while France on November 30, 2023.
DA’s imposition of the ban will immediately stop the acquisition of both domesticated and wild birds from Belgium and France while also preventing traders from bringing in Belgian and French poultry products including poultry meat, day-old chicks, hatching eggs and poultry semen into the Philippines starting last Monday.
However, meat imports already in transit, loaded or accepted before the ban will still be allowed to enter the country if the poultry were slaughtered or the products were produced on or before November 12, 2023 in the case of France and November 16, 2023 for Belgium.
All imports after the said dates will not be considered upon arrival in the country, except for heat-treated products.
DA said the import bans will continue unless revoked.
Based on data from the Bureau of Animal Industry, from January to November 2023, the Philippines imported a total of 1,870,203 kg of chicken from Belgium equivalent to 0.48 percent of the 393,288,739 kg total chicken imports of the Philippines for the period.
The Philippines did not purchase any chicken meat from France for the period.
