MANILA – The Department of Agriculture on Friday ordered a temporary ban on the importation of pigs and pork by-products including pig meat, skin and semen from Laos and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or North Korea, in a bid to protect local swine population from the the African Swine Fever virus.
The two separate memoranda signed by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol ordered the ban of importation of domestic and wild pig and its by-products as well as the suspension of the process evaluation, and issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) import clearance of the said commodities.
The Department of Agriculture said both countries have confirmed to the World Organization for Animal Health “that there were outbreaks for African Swine Fever” in parts of their territories.
-- with a report from April Rafales, ABS-CBN News
ASF, pork meat, pig semen, wild pigs, African Swine Fever, DA, Laos, North Korea