RP bans imports of meat and bone meal

RP bans imports of meat and bone meal

MANILA (Dow Jones): The Philippine Department of Agriculture has ordered a temporary ban on meat and bone meal imports from all countries, Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor said Thursday.

The ban was provided for under a memorandum order signed by Montemayor July 18.

Montemayor issued the order following a recommendation made during a joint technical consultation on bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, that ruminant meal and bone meal should not be fed to ruminant animals.

The forum was organized by the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization and the Office Internationale des Epizooties.

The forum said that "importing countries are warned on the possibility of illegal trade of MBM (meat and bone meal imports), masking the real source due to complicated trading patterns," Montemayor said.

BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease, is believed to cause a brain-wasting illness in humans known as variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.

Montemayor said countries where there is no known case of BSE such as the U.S. have instituted precautionary measures banning the use of mammalian meat and bone meal imports in feeding ruminant animals.

"There is a need for the Philippine government to institute similar precautionary measures to prohibit feeding MBM to our local ruminant population," he added.

To effectively implement the ban, Montemayor ordered the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation and issuance or import permits for the importation of meat and bone meal imports from all countries by the Bureau of Animal Industry.

Montemayor also ordered the confiscation of all shipments into the country of meat and bone meal imports at all major sea and air ports.