FOLLOWING the continuous increase in the number of bird flu-infected poultry products in the country, Negros Occidental Provincial and Bacolod City Governments issued a joint executive order banning the entry of all live domestic and wild birds ready to lay pullets, and their products including table eggs and manure.
The banned poultry products include those from Luzon, Panay, Guimaras and Mindanao.
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said that on February 22, 2022, the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAl) through its Animal Disease Diagnosis and Reference Laboratory (BAI-ADDRL) conducted a test of affected birds in the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga using real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and were tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 strain, commonly known as “bird flu.”
“Due to the continuous spread and increasing number of cases of the HPAI Subtype H5N1 in the country, there is a need to repeal an earlier executive order to establish the clearer guidelines on the entry of all domestic and wild birds, and their products, including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs, semen, and manure, from all regions in the Philippines into the province and the city to safeguard its poultry industry as well as to protect the general public from the ill effects of the bird flu disease,” they said.
Subject to compliance, exempted products include raw poultry meat both processed and unprocessed issued by National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) and/or license to operate (LTO)/ certificate of product registration (CPR).
Also excluded from the ban are products with Veterinary Shipping permit from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), day-old chicks (Broiler, Layer and Breeder) with Veterinary Health Certificate (VHC).
In order for it to be exempted, it should likewise be accompanied with certification issued by the Provincial Veterinarian certifying that the birds were sourced from farms with no incidence of Avian Influenza for the past 14 days prior to shipment.
For backyard farms and non-certified Bal, all birds in each shipment must be tested negative for HPAl within 14 days prior to shipment and must have corresponding wingband or legband numbers for identification but the result is valid for one shipment only.
Ducks, pigeons and other wild birds must have VHC, certification issued by the Provincial Veterinarian that the birds were sourced from farm/area with no incidence of Avian Influenza for the past 14 days prior to shipment, Veterinary Shipping permit from the BAI and two negative test results.
Same requirements for broilers and ready-to-lay pullets while for embryonated eggs or "balut."