Philippines, Chile ink poultry trade agreement

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) has entered into a regionalization agreement with Chile to ensure uninterrupted poultry shipments from the South American nation.

Through Department Circular No. 30, the DA recognized Chile’s regionalization for high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu.

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In turn, this effectively lifted the temporary import ban on Chilean domestic and wild birds and their products, including day-old chicks, eggs and semen.

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Through the agreement, the Philippine government will allow imports from disease-free areas and will no lift the country-wide import restriction.

Furthermore, the order said all poultry shipments from Chile must comply with bilateral regionalization terms, the DA’s HPAI guidelines and existing regulations.

The DA granted Chile’s application for bilateral recognition of regionalization as its assessment showed that the South American country maintains sufficient veterinary oversight and has established necessary control and mitigating measures against bird flu.

Such control measures ensure that there is “a low risk” of importing poultry products from Chile.

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Local authorities requested several documentary requirements to assess the public health control measures applied and implemented by Chile.

Based on the Circular, accredited countries may seek bilateral recognition on HPAI regionalization for live birds and poultry products.

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As a safeguard, without a regionalization agreement, the government can temporarily restrict meat imports from countries hit by disease outbreaks.

To date, 13 foreign meat establishments from Chile have been accredited to supply beef pork and chicken to the Philippines.

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Chile has shipped 6.55 million kilograms of meat, mostly pork, to the Philippines between January and April this year. The volume is equivalent to 1.13 percent of the 577.69 million kg of meat import arrivals recorded by the Bureau of Animal Industry during the period. /pai INQ