Don’t eat smuggled Peking duck, Yap urges

Imagine a Chinese restaurant without Peking ducks?

If Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap’s call to restaurants and hotels not to serve smuggled Peking ducks and other poultry products from China and other bird-flu infested countries, then this is not a remote possibility.

Even the ongoing Peking duck festival at posh Libby’s center, which offers 50 percent discount on Peking duck purchases, is bound to flop if Yap’s call against consumption of Chinese Peking duck and other banned poultry products succeeds.

Yap made a strong pitch against Peking ducks and poultry products which continue to proliferate in supermarkets and restaurants despite an existing ban against their importation due to bird flu infestation.

Bureau of Animal Industry Director Dr. Jose Q. Molina issued a ban on poultry products from China and other bird flu affected countries last May 2001.

"And we do not intend to lift the ban for so long as there are continuous outbreaks of bird flu," said DA Undersecretary for Livestock and Fisheries Cesar Drilon during a breakfast meeting with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Philippine Association of Supermarkets Inc. (PASI) and the Hotel & Restaurant Purchasing Managers of the Philippines at Club Filipino.

Signing the declaration of commitment to support the Avian Influenza Protection Program of DA-BAI were PCCI president Donald Dee; FFCCI president Francis Chua; Federico Ples, secretary general of PASI and Ellinor Capistrano, vice president of the Hotel & Restaurant Purchasing Managers of the Philippines. Yap and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, signed as chairman and vice-chairman of Aviant Influenza Protection Program, respectively.

The covenant stressed the concern for bird flu not only for animal health but human health as well.

Drilon explained that all Peking ducks sold in restaurants and supermarkets are presumed coming from China, which is deeply infected with bird flu.

Drilon said the proliferation of Peking ducks in the Philippines is due to smuggling and those being brought in by personal baggage of tourists and passengers.

"Though the bird flu virus can be killed through proper cooking, eating ducks and poultry products from infested countries is exposing the country to the bird flu virus and virtually condones smuggling of such banned products," Drilon said.