The Department of Agriculture (DA) has temporarily banned the entry of poultry and wild bird products from England, following cases outbreak of H5N8 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in three of its provinces from December 2016-January 2017.

In a Memorandum Order signed by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, the country will temporarily refuse the importation of domestic and wild bird products – including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semens – from England.

According to a report submitted to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), Dr Nigel Gibbens, Chief Veterinary Officer of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in London, United Kingdom, confirmed seven outbreaks of the HPAI virus as confirmed by Animal and Plant health agency (APHA), Weybridge (OIE Reference Labaoratory).

The provinces affected by the virus were Lincolnshire, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

“The temporary ban aims to protect the health of the Philippine poultry,” Piñol said.

The order authorizes the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to immediately suspend the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) import clearance of the said commodities.

Piñol also instructed the DA Veterinary Quarantine Officers and Inspectors to closely monitor all major ports, stop and confiscate all shipments of the said products.

Frozen poultry meat with slaughter or process date of 21 days prior to the HPAI outbreaks are still allowed to enter the country subject to the veterinary quarantine rules and regulations.

Piñol stressed that the importation of meat products of poultry is subject to the conditions of OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code of 2016.

Aside from England, DA has also imposed a temporary ban on Kuwait, India (Gujarat), Poland, the Republic of Macedonia (Struga), Cambodia and Israel. ###