Philippines suspends livestock and meat imports from 7 countries over FMD
The Philippine Department of Agriculture suspended imports of live animals and a defined list of animal products from seven Middle East and European economies following confirmed foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait and Palestine. Department Circular No. 39, signed by Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr., covers live swine, cattle, water buffalo and other FMD-susceptible cloven-hoofed species, plus fresh skeletal muscle meat, casings, tallow, hooves, horns and animal semen from those origins.
Key facts
- Department Circular No. 39, signed by Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr., suspends imports of live swine, cattle, water buffalo and other FMD-susceptible species from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait and Palestine.
- The suspension also covers fresh skeletal muscle meat, casings, tallow, hooves, horns and animal semen from the seven origins; WOAH-defined 'safe commodities' (UHT milk, heat-treated canned meat, gelatin, processed hides) remain permitted.
The ban is not blanket across every animal-derived product from the seven countries: commodities the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) classifies as 'safe' under its FMD protocols — UHT milk, heat-treated canned meat, gelatin and processed hides — remain permitted, since those processing methods are recognised as neutralising the virus. Veterinary quarantine officers at Philippine ports have been directed to stop and confiscate any prohibited shipment reaching the border.
FMD poses no food-safety risk to humans and is not a public-health measure — it is a livestock-biosecurity measure protecting the Philippines' own cattle, pig and buffalo herds from a highly contagious animal disease. The distinction matters operationally: an exporter shipping a WOAH-safe processed product from one of the seven countries is not automatically blocked, but should confirm processing documentation matches WOAH's specific time/temperature protocols before assuming a shipment qualifies for the carve-out.
Why it matters
If you export live animals, fresh meat or the listed animal by-products from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait or Palestine to the Philippines, that channel is closed until the ban lifts — but heat-treated and WOAH-recognised processed products from the same origins can still ship if your documentation proves the qualifying treatment was applied.