MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the importation ban on wild and domestic birds, and other poultry products from California and South Dakota in the United States.
According to the memorandum order no. 37 signed by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Tuesday, the department has allowed importation of domestic and wild birds, and products including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen from the two U.S states.
In the memorandum, the DA said that the ban was lifted after California recorded no outbreaks after June 14, 2024 while South Dakota did not have any outbreaks after May 29, 2024.
In January, the department imposed an importation ban on domestic and wild birds and poultry products from California due to outbreaks of avian influenza.
Meanwhile, the ban on the same products was issued to South Dakota in November 2023 after logging cases of bird flu.
The memorandum also states that an importation ban on poultry products could only be imposed if there are three or more counties affected by the influenza.
The DA, in a statement on Saturday, said that the poultry sector saw a 2 percent population increase in the first half, adding that the “Central Luzon reported the highest inventory of 33.68 million birds, followed by Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon] with 27.32 million, and Northern Mindanao with 25.87 million.”