The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is temporarily banning poultry products from Japan due to bird flu.

It can be recalled that the Philippines recently banned poultry products from Belgium, France, and the United States because of the outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in the domestic birds of those countries.

In a statement, the DA said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. signed a memorandum order on Wednesday directing the immediate suspension of the issuance of the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance of wild birds, poultry, and poultry products from Japan, except for those already in transit, loaded and accepted on or before November 10, 2023.

Shipments after November 10 will be either sent back to Japan, confiscated, or destroyed, it added.

This came after Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported an outbreak of HPAI to the World Organization for Animal Health on November 28, 2023. The ministry said there was an outbreak of the H5N1 wild and domesticated birds on November 24, 2023 in Kashima City in Saga Prefecture. Jaspearl Tan/DMS