The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said it has released hundreds of imported game fowl that were placed under temporary quarantine following their arrival from the US after the birds tested negative for avian influenza.

“BAI conducted random sampling of 30 birds and subjected them to avian influenza tests to ensure the country's biosecurity. Test results indicated that all tested game fowl were negative from highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) strain,” said BAI Director Dr. Enrico Miguel Capulong. 

The BAI chief said all 378 game fowl, which were taken to BAI office for testing after their arrival from the Port of Atlanta in Georgia, were immediately released after test results confirmed the birds weren’t infected with the virus.

An outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain could cause substantial damage to the Philippines' multi-billion-peso poultry industry, cause thousands of job losses, and undermine the country’s food security.

“We are currently verifying reports that the birds originated from California, a US state where there is an H5N1 outbreak. We cannot take information like this for granted, regardless of the source. We have to follow quarantine protocols,” the BAI chief said.  

The Department of Agriculture imposed in January a ban on the import of domesticated and wild birds, including poultry products and eggs, from California and Ohio, two states in the opposite sides of the US where there had been a rapid spread of the highly-pathogenic avian influenza strain H5N1 since infected birds were tested positive for the virus in November. 

Capulong further said a draft amending  protocol shall facilitate cargo clearance processing so that time consuming tasks like cargo verification as witnessed last Wednesday can be carried out at the source country, especially for live animals.

Meanwhile, importers of the breeding stocks shall observe the 30 day quarantine for the birds in close coordination with the quarantine officer.