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.