DA: Ban on poultry products from Germany lifted since Feb.

Since end-February, the ban on poultry and poultry products coming from Germany was already lifted, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has announced. The DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said the monitoring and control measures in place in the European Union rule out the contamination with dioxin — said to be a “super-toxic" chemical — in the products. The European Commission has assured the Philippine government that “no contaminated food products" were exported to the third-world country, the DA said. According to the evaluation conducted by the BAI, the risks related to importing poultry and poultry products from Germany are now “negligible." The BAI had temporarily restricted the entry of German poultry and poultry products due to reports that fatty acids intended for paper-making were used in manufacturing feeds, the DA said. Dioxin can cause diverse effects in humans such as severe reproductive and developmental problems, immune system damage, cancer, and hormonal system dysfunction. — JE, GMA News