DA bans imports of European meat

The Department of Agriculture has temporarily banned the importation of meat from several European countries suspected of being infected with the fatal mad-cow disease.

Agriculture Secretary Edgardo J. Angara signed Memorandum Order 19, saying the emergency measure had to be implemented because of the confirmation made by the Office International des Epizooties of increasing cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease in European countries.

The ban includes importation of live cattle, sheep, goats, their meat and meat products, meat and bone meal, and other feed ingredients derived from said animals coming from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Germany.

Angara said the ban is necessary because of mounting evidence that the mad cow disease jumped species and infected humans in the form of variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob which has a long but undetermined incubation period which means those infected could be ill several years from now.

Prior to the ban, the country has been importing live cattle from the mad-cow infected countries. For this year alone, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) issued veterinary quarantine clearances for importations from Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Germany, United Kingdom and Italy totaling 33,994 metric tons.

BAL officials said that it recalled last August the veterinary quarantine clearances issued since the outbreak was detected. The agency had issued clearances for January, May, June, August, September, October and November.

BAL Director Teodoro Abilay also issued a memorandum to meat importers, recalling previous clearances issued while canceling new applications.

The DA also prescribed the following measures to ensure these products do not make it to Philippine ports.

• Immediate suspension of processing, evaluation and issuance of veterinary quarantine clearances/SPS import permit for applications relevant to the importation of the products in European countries by the Bureau of Animal Industry.

• Stoppage/confiscation of all shipments into the country of affected products originating from the European countries by all DA quarantine inspectors/officers at all major sea/air ports.

Last September, the DA also banned live pigs and pork meat from Britain after confirming the outbreak of the classical swine fever (CSF).

The emergency measure covers the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation and issuance of veterinary quarantine clearance and import permit for applications relevant to the importation of live pigs, pork, pork products and by-products in the UK by BAI.

The order also includes the stoppage and confiscation of all shipments into the country of affected products originating from the UK by all DA quarantine inspectors and officers at all major sea and air ports.

The BAI received a faxed report from Dr. J.M. Scudamore, chief veterinary officer of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in London which said they were at least five reported outbreaks of classical swine fever in Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk. One is a breeding farm and four in rearing farms that had received animals from the breeding farm. All the pigs in these farms were slaughtered and their carcases destroyed. All pig farms that have been in contract with the primary outbreak are being investigated for CSF detection.

The last time the country banned pork imports, meat and other dairy products was last year when there was an outbreak of dioxin in Belgium.