MANILA - The Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it seized 21 tons (19,000 kilograms) of dressed chicken shipped to Mindanao from Luzon that violated a ban to prevent the spread of bird flu.

Criminal and administrative charges will be filed against those behind the shipment, which was seized in Cagayan De Oro port, Agriculture Sectary Emmanuel Piñol said in a statement. The meat was from Manila port.

The DA earlier banned the shipment of fowls from Luzon to other parts of the country to contain the bird flu outbreak in San Luis, a farming town in Pampanga province, north of Manila.

Piñol said the chief quarantine officer in Batangas Port would be investigated for allegedly allowing the shipment of 1,500 eggs from Candaba, Pampanga and Batangas to Aklan.

A 7-kilometer "controlled zone" has been declared in San Luis, where 600,000 chicken, ducks, quails, pigeons and fighting cocks were set for slaughter, he said.

No fowls or eggs can be brought out of the "controlled zone" and all vehicles coming out of the area will be sprayed with disinfectant, Piñol said.