• The Department of Agriculture issued a ban on importing domestic and wild birds and poultry products from New Zealand due to an outbreak of H7N6 avian influenza
• Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. signed Memorandum Order No. 01 Series of 2025 suspending the processing, evaluation, and issuance of import clearances
• The ban includes eggs, day-old chicks, semen, and poultry meat
• Shipments already in transit or accepted at ports before the ban’s communication can enter if slaughtered or produced before Nov. 9, 2024
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Quarantine authorities in the Philippines have been instructed to confiscate poultry commodities restricted under the order
The Department of Agriculture (DA) issued a ban on importing domestic and wild birds and poultry products from New Zealand due to an H7N6 avian influenza outbreak.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. issued Memorandum Order No. 01 Series of 2025 on January 6 immediately suspending the processing, evaluation, and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances for various poultry products, including eggs, day-old chicks, semen, and poultry meat from New Zealand.
The DA clarified that shipments already in transit, loaded, or accepted at ports before the official communication of the ban would be permitted entry, provided the products were slaughtered or produced before November 9, 2024.
Tests conducted by the New Zealand National Animal Health Laboratory in late November confirmed the presence of the H7N6 strain of high pathogenicity avian influenza in domestic birds from East Otago, Waitaki, and Canterbury. New Zealand authorities officially reported the outbreak to the World Organization for Animal Health.
Quarantine authorities in the Philippines have been instructed to confiscate poultry commodities restricted under the order.
“(There) is a need to prevent the entry of HPAI virus to protect the health of the local poultry population,” the memo read.
