INTERVENTION.The United Poultry Association meets with Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Trenas to express their concern on the bird flu outbreak and for the city government to make the proper intervention on Wednesday (July 6). The city government issued Executive Order number 05 on July 6, 2022 prohibiting the entry of all live birds poultry and by products from avian flu-affected areas as pre-emptive measure.(Photo by Arnold Almacen/Iloilo City Mayor's Office) ILOILO CITY -All live birds, chicken, and by-products from areas in Luzon and Mindanao, where there is an outbreak of avian influenza, are prohibited from entering the city within 30 days since July 7, 2022. Department of Agriculture (DA) Regulatory Division chief and focal person for the Western Visayas Inter-Agency Task Force for Animal Diseases Dr. Jonic Natividad, in an interview on Friday, said the move is just a pre-emptive measure on the part of Iloilo City, which is the center of trade in Western Visayas. "It is to avoid the sort of infection or contamination among traders," he said. Executive Order (EO) number 5 signed by Mayor Jerry P. Trenas on July 6, 2022 particularly bans the entry of all live birds, poultry or non-poultry, including day-old chicks, pullets, hatching eggs, ready-to-lay pullets, semen, fresh eggs, embryonated eggs, manure, ducks and quails, and other poultry products and by products. Pigeons for racing, flying, training, breeding, and other related activities; game fowls; live ducks for the purpose of grazing and transport or movement of table eggs, salted eggs, quail eggs, ready-to-lay eggs, and embryonated eggs are also not allowed to enter the city. However, the city will allow the transshipment of imported day-old chicks, day-old pullets, hatching eggs, and gamefowls from international airports and seaports. Poultry meat shall also be allowed provided that the shipment is accompanied by a Meat Inspection Certificate (MIC) for domestic meat products or a Certificate of Meat Inspection for imported meat products that will be issued by the National Meat Inspection Service and Shipping Permit from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), according to the EO. Natividad said the target is really to ban embryonated eggs or locally known as "balut", which are sourced from ducks. He said that while the DA-BAI recommended that they should be subjected to food-grade disinfectant and ultraviolet light exposure upon arrival in ports, and cooked at the point of destination, it is not doable given the volume of shipment. "There is a gray area in the system so Iloilo City and other provinces wanted to make sure by banning its entry. Balut is not really that essential versus the poultry products," he added. The United Poultry Association, in a meeting with Mayor Trenas this week, expressed their concern about the bird flu outbreak and asked the city government for interventions. (PNA) }