THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it may declare Luzon free of avian influenza, or bird flu, by March following the culling of 42,000 chickens in Candaba, Pampanga in late November.
Animal Health and Welfare Development officer-in-charge Dr. Arlyn Asteria V. Vytiaco said at a news conference that the DA is in the process of checking infected areas through the introduction of sentinel birds.
Ms. Vytiaco said the protocol of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) is to count 90 days before the Philippines is declared free from avian influenza.
“When we are applying OIE, there should be a series of surveillance activities. We’ve had our second surveillance in Nov. 27 in Pampanga, covering 11 towns. In Dec. 4, we also had a surveillance activity in Candaba. I’m happy to announce that all the tests came out negative,” she added.
In August, the DA detected bird flu in San Luis, Pampanga and began the process of culling 200,000 birds after it spread to five neighboring farms.
Ms. Vytiaco said yakitori exports to Japan are at risk if the country is not declared bird flu-free sooner but added that the DA is in constant communication with its counterparts in Japan.
“Actually, Japan is communicating with us, asking for our status so we said what is happening [in our bird flu situation and] when it happened,” she added.
“Japan is very strict when it comes to requirements but actually, I think that Japan is stricter than OIE.”
As a backup plan, the DA is considering encouraging the chicken processing companies to move to the Visayas or Mindanao. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
