The Department of Agriculture is set to impose a temporary ban on poultry products from the Netherlands after reports of avian flu outbreak reached the Philippines.
The DA in a draft memorandum order plans to temporarily prohibit the importation of Dutch poultry based on an online report from Rijksoverheid, the national government website of the Netherlands. The site reported the outbreak of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza in Altfrost, West Maas en Maal, the Netherlands.
The website reported an alleged outbreak affecting broilers and parent poultry.
Based on the draft memo, Agriculture Secretary William Dar gave orders to temporarily halt the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products, day-old chicks, semen and eggs from the Netherlands.
The DA will also suspend processing and evaluation of applications and issuance of SPS import clearances for Dutch poultry.
All incoming poultry meat shipments with sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance will be allowed entry provided that frozen poultry meat were processed 21 days prior to the HPAI outbreak, which should have been shipped on or before Oct. 8, 2020.
Poultry shipments sent after Oct. 8, 2020 will be subject to seizure and subsequent disposal. All incoming shipments will be subject to veterinary quarantine rules and regulations, according to the draft order.
An industry source said the DA would issue the import ban as soon as the Office Internationale des Epizooties confirmed the outbreak as legitimate.
The agency earlier imposed a ban on poultry products from Brazil following reports that a shipment bound for China was infected with coronavirus. The Netherlands and Brazil are the two major suppliers of poultry products to the Philippines.