September 30, 2004

Philippines To Lift Poultry Ban On British Columbia, Canada

The Philippines is set to lift an import ban on poultry products from British Columbia, Canada, in connection with a reported outbreak of bird flu there in February, a senior government official said Tuesday.
 
Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock Cesar Drilon said the memorandum order that provides for the lifting of the ban will be signed shortly by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.
 
Bureau of Animal Industry director Jose Molina said he made the recommendation to lift the ban following a report by the Canadian government that it has completely eradicated the virus in the province.
 
"We verified the information with the OIE (Office Internationale Des Epizooties) that Canada is now clear of the problem, so we made a recommendation to lift the ban," Molina stated.
 
Canada, along with the U.S., is a major source of imported poultry products for the Philippines, although British Columbia isn't one of the areas from which the country imports poultry products.
 
From January to August this year, the Philippines has imported close to 6 million kilograms of chicken and turkey meat from Canada.
 
Early this month, the Philippines lifted import bans on the U.S., Taiwan and Japan in relation to outbreaks of bird flu in those countries.
 
But Drilon said the Philippines will maintain bans on poultry products from most Asian countries, considering the recent outbreaks in Thailand and Malaysia.
 
The Philippines has remained free of bird flu, which has affected most of its neighboring countries in Asia.