By Glenda Tayona, Panay News
ILOILO City – The city government extended its ban on live poultry, poultry products and byproducts from Luzon and Mindanao.
The Avian Influenza or bird flu outbreak there has not abated, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas in Executive Order (EO) No. 043-2022 extending the ban for 30 more days effective immediately.
The ban would protect Iloilo’s poultry industry and shield the Ilonggos from “the unknown risks that this outbreak may cause the consuming public,” the EO read.
Avian Influenza is a highly contagious viral disease caused by any Influenza A virus affecting several species of food-producing birds (chickens, turkeys, quails, guinea row,. etc.). as well as pet birds and wild birds.
The temporary ban is imposed on the following:
* all live birds (poultry and non-poultry) including day-old chicks, pullets, hatching eggs, ready-to-lay pullets, semen, fresh egg, embryonated eggs, manure, ducks and quails and other poultry products and byproducts from Luzon and Mindanao
* pigeons for racing, flying, training, brooding and other related activities originating from Luzon and Mindanao, and those which have traveled thereto and intending to return to Iloilo City
* gamefowls from Luzon and Mindanao and those which have traveled thereto and intending to return to Iloilo City
The EO, however, allows the transshipment of imported day-old chicks, day-old pullets, hatching eggs as well as gamefowls from International airports and seaports to Iloilo City.
The transport of poultry meat from Luzon and Mindanao to Iloilo City shall be allowed only if the shipment is accompanied by a Meat Inspection Certificate (MIC) for domestic meat products or Certificate of Meat Inspection (COMI) for imported meat products.
MIC or COMI will be issued by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) along with the Shipping Permit issued by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).
Strict implementation of quarantine inspections shall also be imposed in all ports of entry – land, sea, or air – in Iloilo City.
Treñas tasked the City Veterinary Office, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture Region 6’s Regulatory Division and the BAI – Regional Veterinary Quarantine Service 6, to inspect the regulatory requirements of all incoming poultry and poultry products.
In May, after more than a month of ban, the city government through a previously issued executive order opened its borders to eggs and day-old chicks from areas not affected by the Avian Influenza or bird flu to help poultry farmers.
But seeing the impending threat again following new confirmed cases of bird flu in the provinces of Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Laguna, Benguet, North Cotabato, South Colabato, Maguindanao, and Isabela from April 30 to June 10, the city government opted to close its border again./PN
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