Makati forms task force for bird flu watch

The Makati City government has created a task force to inspect poultry products sold in the city as a precaution against the bird flu virus outbreak reported in parts of Pampanga and Nueva Ecija provinces.

Mayor Abby Binay directed Task Force Bantay AI (avian influenza), whose members are meat inspectors from the city’s Veterinary Services Office (VSO), to monitor establishments that sell meat and poultry following an alert order from the National Meat Inspection Service.

“The heightened alert on meat inspection is a precautionary measure to protect our constituents. We want to make sure that the poultry products in our groceries, public markets and even the small ‘talipapas’ remain safe for consumption,” Binay said.

Makati has also discouraged the sale and movement of live domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, semen and manure from Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Tarlac, Zambales and Bataan provinces. —Erika Sauler