The Department of Agriculture (DA) banned the importation of poultry and other related from Belgium and France after the countries reported a bird flu outbreak.
DA Secretary Francisco Laurel Jr. stressed the need to impose the import ban to prevent the possible entry of HPAI-H5N1 into 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 in a statement.
The agency said that the imposition of the ban will immediately stop the acquisition of both domesticated and wild birds from Belgium and France.
The indenfinite import will also prevent traders from bringing in Belgian and French poultry products including poultry meat, day-old chicks, hatching eggs, and poultry semen into the Philippines.
DA said that eat imports already in transit, loaded or accepted before the ban can still enter the Philippines 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.
The import bans will remain in effect until revoked by the Agriculture department.
