DA lifts ban on all imports of poultry, wild birds from Canada

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on all imports of birds along with poultry and its products from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan following official confirmation of the absence of the avian influenza (AI) virus in the Canadian prairie area in  the last three months.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap lifted the ban after an evaluation by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed that the risk from contamination from importing poultry products from Saskatchewan, Canada is negligible.

Sasketchawan is in western Canada and near the US states of Montana and North Dakota .

Based on the final report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to the Office International des Epi-zooties (OIE), or Animal Health Organization, the BAI noted that 90 days have elapsed without any evidence of the highly pathogenic AI since the cleaning and disinfection of infected premises were conducted in the province.

The Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the OIE sets a three-month period before a country can regain its bird flu-free status after conducting a stamping-out campaign to eradicate birds infected with the AI virus.

Earlier, the DA also lifted the ban on the entry of birds, poultry and its products from the European countries of Germany and Italy after the OIE had declared them free of the AI virus.

The Philippines currently imposes a ban on imports of birds, poultry and its products from, among others, Korea, Saudi Arabia , Poland and the western African country of Benin to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines .

The Philippines has remained free of bird flu ever since the H5N1 strain of this virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.

The Philippines is one of only three AI-free countries in Southeast Asia . The two other AI-free countries in the region are Brunei and Singapore.

As of mid-May this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 241 out of 382 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have been infected with the AI virus have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 2003 and then spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In Indonesia, out of the 133 cases confirmed to date, 108 have been fatal, according to WHO data.

Yap had ordered the BAI last year to step up its implementation of border patrols, quarantine measures and other preventive steps to keep the Philippines AI-free amid the resurgence of the bird flu virus in Asia.

Yap had directed BAI Director Davinio Catbagan to intensify the implementation of preventive measures in airports and seaports in the cities of Davao and General Santos owing to their proximity to Indonesia, one of Asia’s bird-flu infected countries.

The BAI has improved its control measures to monitor the movement of ducks, which can be carriers of the bird flu, through grazing and by ordering suppliers and growers to secure permits for their transfer/movement.

The BAI has also been carrying out strict monitoring and control measures to prevent domestic poultry and ducks from coming into contact with migratory birds from the 20 critical areas identified under the Avian Influenza Prevention Program (AIPP).

The BAI is also constantly upgrading and installing new laboratory equipment, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines that are used to accurately and swiftly detect the presence of the AI virus.