DA includes Laos in pork importation ban
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has banned the importation of domestic and wild pigs — as well as other pork products — from Laos amid reported outbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF).
According to a DA memorandum order dated June 21, an official report submitted to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) stated that the ASF outbreak has been recorded in Toulon, Saravane in Laos.
“There is a need to prevent the entry of ASF virus to protect the health of the local swine population,” the memorandum, signed by DA secretary Manny Piñol, read.
Aside from banning the importation of domestic and wild pigs and other pork products from Laos, Piñol also ordered the “immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application, and issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) import clearance to the above-mentioned products.”
The DA veterinary quarantine officers and inspectors in all major ports in the country are also ordered to confiscate all shipments of the said products from Laos.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier imposed a temporary ban on pork products from 16 countries believed to be affected by ASF such as Vietnam, Zambia, South Africa, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Mongolia, Moldova, Belgium, China, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine.
The FDA explained that the disease is a “highly contagious” hemorrhagic disease of pigs, warthogs, European wild boar, and American wild pigs that causes fever, loss of appetite, hemorrhages in the skin and internal organs, and even death to affected animals.
While the disease is not considered a “human health threat,” the FDA said the disease cause significant economic loss in the swine industry. (Editor: Eden Estopace)
READ: Ma Ling included in FDA temporary ban on pork meat products
