LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- The province of Pangasinan continues to be an avian influenza-free province.
Thus said Dr. Eric Jose Perez, provincial veterinarian, before the provincial board on Monday as he declared that it is safe to consume chicken meat.
He made the declaration three days after Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol confirmed last August 11 during the Luzon Mango Stakeholders’ Forum at the Sison Auditorium in Lingayen that there is now an outbreak of bird flu in San Luis, Pampanga that already infected some 200,000 fowls, which included chicken and ducks.
Perez said the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPVet) swiftly acted by alerting all field personnel assigned at established animal checkpoints in various entry points of the province to prevent contaminated fowls from getting into the province.
He said a 24/7 quarantine alert is now being implemented in these checkpoints to ensure that fowl from Pampanga infescted with the H5 virus could enter the province.
The checkpoints are situated in Bakit-bakit and Carmen, Rosales; Umingan, Bayambang, Mangatarem, Infanta, Sison and San Fabian.
Perez said he will meet with sanitary and meat inspectors shortly because of the need to conduct intensive information dissemination to caution the public to stay away from avian flu virus.
Perez assured the provincial board that there is enough supply of chicken in Pangasinan even if the province would not import chicken from other provinces.
Meanwhile, Fourth District Board Member Jeremy Agerico Rosario, a doctor by profession, urged Pangasinenses to practice proper hygiene at all times for them to stay away from avian flu.
Amid the bird flu outbreak, Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim, warned the public to remain calm but at the same time vigilant.
In his talk before the provincial board, Dr. Perez cited a memorandum circular of the Bureau of Animal Industry directing that: "No movement of live domestic and wild birds, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs, and semen will be allowed from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao." (PNA)
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