The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen originating from the state of Ohio in the United States.
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed Memorandum Order No. 23 on June 7 rescinding the temporary import ban imposed in mid-January due to a confirmed outbreak of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza in Ohio.
The import ban involved domestic and wild birds along with their associated products such as poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.
Tiu Laurel’s decision to lift the ban was based on the official report submitted by the US Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to the World Organization for Animal Health.
According to the report, all counties in Ohio have successfully resolved avian flu cases and no additional outbreaks have been reported after April 2.
Based on data from the Bureau of Animal Industry, total chicken imports from the US that entered the country from January to April reached 46,636,118 kg equivalent to 34.7 percent of the entire 134,465,086 kg. of chicken that entered the Philippines for the period.
Earlier, DA said it was banning the imports of birds and poultry products from Australia because of a bird flu outbreak in Australian states.
Imports from Australia of wild and domestic birds, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen will be immediately stopped, DA said on Saturday.
As of April, Australia ranked as the Philippines’ fourth-largest source of imported chicken meat, accounting for 4 percent of its total volume of chicken imports.
