Philippine Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban, announced that the 11 month old ban that was imposed on the poultry is to be lifted on the 7th of June by Japan.
Japanese Ambassador Ryuichiro Yamazaki has informed Panganiban that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry have found the poultry in the country free of bird flu. The had Philippines started exporting processed poultry products to Japan in January last year after Thailand reported bird flu cases. It has been reported that the Philippines exported at least 1.6 million kilograms of yakitori chicken pieces before the ban was imposed in July 2005.
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The Philippines has remained free of the bird flu virus, which has killed 124 people in 10 countries since it re-emerged in Asia in 2003. The WHO cautioned that there is no known evidence yet that the virus has mutated to allow it to pass easily between people. They announced earlier this week that the limited human-to-human transmission of bird flu might have occurred in an Indonesian family, raising fears of a possible pandemic.
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