DA bars livestock from 23 countries

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued Department Circular No. 46, which temporarily bars the entry of livestock from 23 countries following outbreaks there of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), “to protect the health of the FMD-susceptible animal population,” the agency said.

The import suspension covers Vietnam and Cambodia as well as Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Eswatini, Gambia, Guinea, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.

Skeletal muscle meat, casings, tallow, hooves and horns, as well as live swine, bovines and water buffaloes (family Suidae, family Bovidae, family Cervidae), including semen, are prohibited.

But other commodity types are allowed entry as these are safe commodities under the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

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These are ultra-high temperature milk and derivatives, heat-treated meat products in a hermetically sealed container, protein meal, gelatine, limed hides, pickled pelts and semiprocessed leather.