PH bans livestock imports from 7 countries amid foot-and-mouth disease scare

The import suspension covers live animals and selected animal products from seven countries following confirmed outbreaks of FMD virus serotype SAT1.

Consumers are warned that the country has temporarily suspended imports of live animals and selected animal products from seven countries following confirmed outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), putting the livestock industry on alert for a highly contagious animal disease.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) imposed the ban on Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, and Palestine after the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported outbreaks of the FMD virus serotype SAT1, which were confirmed through laboratory testing under the World Organization for Animal Health’s reference laboratory network.

The suspension covers live cattle, swine, water buffaloes, and other animals susceptible to FMD, as well as fresh meat, casings, tallow, hooves, horns, and animal semen from the affected areas.

FMD does not infect humans and is not considered a food safety risk. However, an outbreak can be costly for the livestock industry because the virus spreads rapidly among cloven-hoofed animals such as pigs, cattle, goats, sheep, and buffaloes.

An outbreak could lead to animal losses, logistics restrictions, lower farm productivity, and higher costs for producers, while disruptions in livestock supply could eventually affect meat prices and food availability.

The DA will still allow products classified by the World Organization for Animal Health as “safe commodities,” including ultra-high-temperature milk, heat-treated canned meat, protein meal, and gelatin, provided they meet veterinary certification and processing requirements.

Veterinary quarantine officers have been ordered to stop and confiscate prohibited shipments at local ports, as the government tries to keep the country’s livestock sector free from a disease that can inflict significant economic losses.

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