THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has imposed a temporary ban on the importation of poultry and other poultry products from Japan following reports of bird flu outbreaks.

Processing, evaluation and issuances of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances were also suspended.

The ban, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said, would help "protect the health of the local poultry population."

"Only wild birds, poultry and poultry products imported from Japan that are already in transit, loaded and accepted on or before November 10 will be allowed entry to the Philippines," the DA said on Thursday.

Shipments made after the said date will either be returned to Japan, confiscated and destroyed.

Reports submitted by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to the World Organization for Animal Health in November 2023 confirmed outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, particularly the H5N1 subtype, in Kashima City.

The DA previously imposed an import ban of poultry products from Japan in November 2022 due to outbreaks of the bird disease. This was lifted in August 2023.

The temporary halt to poultry imports from Japan follows a ban on shipments from Ohio and California in the United States, also due to bird flu outbreaks.

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