The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued another temporary ban on poultry products imported from Belgium.
Under Memorandum Order 14 – 2023 dated February 8, 2023 the DA stopped the importation of domestic and wild birds and their products from Belgium, including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs and semen.
The decision was made after Brussels on January 26 this year told the World Organization for Animal Health of an outbreak of H5N1 in Wervik, West-Vlaanderen affecting domestic birds.
The DA said the order means immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of application and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance of the cited commodity from Belgium.
All shipments from Belgium still in transit, loaded or accepted unto ports before the official communication to Belgian authorities will be allowed to proceed, provided that the products were slaughtered or produced on or before January 10, 2023.
This is not the first time that poultry products from Belgium were temporarily banned from entering the Philippines as the DA in December 2021 also issued a similar order which was only lifted in June 2022.
Based on data from the Bureau of Animal Industry, Belgium supplied the Philippines a total of 10.68 million kilograms (kg) of chicken, equivalent to 2.6 percent of the 411.07 million kg total chicken imports in 2022.
