DA bans imports of poultry from 4 US states due to bird flu

Chicken from four states of the United States were temporarily banned from being imported here because of confirmed avian flu outbreaks.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. issued Memorandum Order (MO) 11 banning such imports of domestic and wild birds, including their products such as poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen from the states of Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

The DA said the ban stemmed from confirmatory reports from the US veterinary authorities of outbreaks of H5N1 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) in the said US states.

The Deputy Administrator and Chief Veterinary Officer of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) submitted the official report on February 3.

The rapid spread of bird flu in the US in a short period since its first laboratory detection prompted a “wider coverage” of trade restrictions to prevent the disease’s entry and protect the local poultry industry, the report stated..

The APHIS said there had been a mutual HPAI-related arrangement in 2016 between the veterinary authorities of the USA and the Philippines wherein a state-wide ban should only be imposed if there are three or more counties affected by bird flu in one state.

Following this report, Laurel ordered the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to suspend the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPSIC) to the affected commodity.

Birds slaughtered or products processed 14 days before the first outbreak in the particular locality would be allowed to enter the country.

Illinois’s first outbreak was recorded on November 14, 2024; Minnesota’s on November 26, 2024; Ohio’s on December 13, 2024; and Wisconsin’s on December 10, 2024, Business Mirror reported..

The agency warned that shipments that failed to comply would be stopped and confiscated by veterinary quarantine officers or inspectors at all major ports of entry.

The DA also recently imposed a temporary ban on poultry products that originated in South Dakota, Maryland, and Missouri due to bird flu outbreaks.

The DA said the long-awaited bird flu vaccines are expected to hurdle field trials by the end of March this year.