Manilla Phillippines: Agri dept. bans poultry products from Denmark municipality

THE AGRICULTURE department has banned poultry products coming from a municipality in Denmark after an outbreak of bird flu there.

In March 15 notice, the department said it would no longer allow the entry into the country of domestic and wild birds as well poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen originating from Naestved Municipality in Denmark.

"Based on the report submitted... to the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), an occurance of low pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in the [foreign country]," the Agriculture department said.

The virus causing avian flu has been detected in chickens at a mallard breeding farm in Fuglebjerg in Naestved Municipality.

"There is a need to prevent the entry of virus to protect the health of the local poultry population. As such, we are banning the importation of domestic and wild birds, including day-old chicks, eggs and semen," the notice read.

The Agriculture department also said it would no longer process applications to import these products. The Philippines, Singapore and Brunei remain the only bird flu-free countries in Southeast Asia since the virus resurfaced in 2003.

Data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics showed the country imported 548 million kilos of poultry and livestock products last year, of which 32,000 kilos worth $335,000 came from Denmark.