QUEZON CITY, PIA- To protect Filipino consumers, the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a temporary ban on poultry meat and eggs coming from the US’s Oregon State, and Haifa, Israel, the agency announced over the weekend.
“The Philippine government put a temporary ban on the import of domestic and wild birds and their products coming from Oregon, USA, as a precautionary measure against Avian Flu,” DA Secretary Proceso Alcala said in a statement, adding “the poultry products including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs, and semen originating from the Avian flu affected state of Oregon in the US will not be allowed into the country.”
The ban does not cover heat-treated products, while “all shipments of poultry products save for the those properly treated, “shall be stopped and confiscated by DA veterinary quarantine officers/inspectors stationed at all major ports,” the statement also said.
The order also calls for immediate halt to the processing, evaluation of application, and issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) import clearance for poultry products from said US state.
Latest available data from the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry says that some 41.6 million kilos of pork were imported from the US mainland in 2013, surpassed only by Canada’s 52.7 million kilos on the same year.
The agriculture department has also issued the same restrictions on the poultry products coming from Haifa, Israel, which covers “domesticated and wild birds and their products including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.”
The DA set the temporary bans through Memorandum Order 4, series of 2015, “to protect the health of the local livestock population and food safety in the country from the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).”
According to a separate report by the Office of International des Epizooties (OIE), “there has been an outbreak of HPAI virus in Avi’el, Hadera, Haifa, Israel,” started in mid-January of this year.
The outbreak, according to the OIE, “was caused by H5N1 HPAI virus affecting turkey fattening farms as confirmed by the Kimron Veterinary Institute, Avian Diseases Laboratory through real-time polymerase chain reaction.”
The international agency also said that the H5 HPAI virus is among the modifiable OIE-listed terrestrial animal diseases, infections and infestations in force starting last year.
In the case of US, HPAI H5N8 was confirmed in a Douglas County backyard bird flock near Winston, killing 20 guinea fowl and 2 chickens, as early as December 19 last year.
“This is the same virus strain found in a captive gyrfalcon in Whatcom County, Washington,” according to the OIE, adding “avian influenza naturally resides in wild birds and it is fairly common for waterfowl to carry various strains of the virus.”
The OIE report quoted a source from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that during winter season, HPAI outbreaks in North American countries are not uncommon phenomenon because the culpable virus thrives in cold climatic conditions.
Under the orders, the DA clarified “that the importation of poultry and meat products is subject to the conditions provided in the applicable articles of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code, 2014.”
The OIE is an inter-governmental organization that, among others, has functions of informing governments of the occurrence of animal diseases and of ways to control these diseases, of coordinating studies devoted to the surveillance and control of animal diseases and of harmonizing regulations to facilitate trade in animals and animal products.
The country remains free from the highly contagious avian influenza microbe, the DA said, adding “the Philippines has managed to maintain its bird-flu free status since the virus which afflicted Asian countries in 2003, affected the poultry of neighboring nations like Vietnam.”
Industry experts said that the archipelagic nature of the country has served as a “natural barrier” and responsible for curbing the spread of livestock diseases.
“The advantage is that when a certain disease is widespread in an island, it is easier to contain and save the other islands.” The DA said, noting that “landlocked countries are more susceptible to outbreaks.”
“Our poultry subsector grossed P189.7 billion last year, or 7.84% higher than in 2013,” Alcala was quoted as saying, adding “we cannot afford then to lose this growth foothold to avian diseases; that is why we are keen on monitoring entry of products that could threaten the health of our poultry industry.”
Meanwhile, FAO and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) have teamed up to develop high tech tools to fight bird flu and other infectious diseases, using cutting-edge technology that employs mounting knowledge on genomes, the UN’s food body said recently.
“The SIB is equipped with high performance computers, software, databases and a knowledgebase used for screening and monitoring zoonotic diseases,” FAO said on Friday last week, explaining that zoonotic diseases like avian influenza, also known as bird flu, strike animals but can also be transmitted to humans.
Working closely with FAO, SIB experts have developed tools to improve early detection and fast alert systems to prevent and respond to transboundary disease emergencies in poultry or livestock, according the FAO statement.
“The new technology helps us understand biological threats in order to help countries better prevent, respond and ultimately protect the health of humans, animals and the environment,” FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Juan Lubroth, was quoted as saying.
SIB specializes in bioinformatics, a relatively new science which employs computer technology to study biological data. Scientists use bioinformatics to gather process and analyze information on the genomes of pathogens – the genetic material peculiar to specific micro-organisms, such as viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause diseases in their hosts.
This lets them compare genomes, understand protein structures, and identify how diseases work at the molecular level. Such information enables scientists to develop new drugs and targeted treatments as well as improve the effectiveness of existing medicines.
The new technologies play an important role in understanding the nature and dynamics of biological threats, and FAO, in collaboration with SIB, has developed online e-learning courses on bioinformatics in viral pathogens that can help laboratory technicians, physicians, veterinarians and researchers around the world improve their work while increasing access to this emerging field of competence.
SIB’s database feeds information into FAO’s Global Animal Disease Information System (EMPRES-i), the web-based application that supports veterinary services access regional and global disease information.
Future joint initiatives include a genetic module for Rift Valley fever, a viral disease that is potentially devastating to livestock and can also be transmitted to humans, peste des petits ruminants, and African swine fever. (ASD/Media ng Bayan, OpCen)