December 12, 2008
Philippines lifts ban of poultry imports from Virginia
The Philippine Department of Agriculture will resume poultry imports from Virginia effective January 25.
With the lift, poultry imports from all states in US are now allowed into the Philippines.
The ban was implemented last year with a US Department of Agriculture report saying that there was a low pathogenic avian influenza in Virginia.
The lift was issued by the Philippine Secretary of Agriculture after the Bureau of Animal Industry completed an evaluation on the risk contamination of importing poultry and poultry products from Virginia. This evaluation was based on USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) final report to the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) on the cleaning and disinfection activities conducted on Aug 4, 2007.
The US exported over US$25 million worth of poultry and poultry products to the Philippines last year, an increase of nearly 60 percent from the previous year.
For the full USDA report, please click here.
