35,000 'balut' from Pampanga intercepted at Zambo port
ZAMBOANGA CITY — The veterinary quarantine services of the Bureau of Animal Industry on Tuesday afternoon intercepted around 35,000 incubated duck eggs from Pampanga that reached Zamboanga City port.
The eggs — from Candaba and not San Luis, where a bird flu outbreak has been confirmed — were contained were stored in wooden crates and were discovered while quarantine personnel were inspecting a passenger ferry from Manila on Tuesday afternoon.
The BAI personnel have been on high alert because of a Department of Agriculture ban on the shipment of poultry products from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao as a precautionary measure against bird flu.
The balut eggs came from a distributor in Candaba and one of the consignees has agreed to ship back five of the seven pallets flagged by the BAI. Another consignee has abandoned the last two pallets, around 9,000 eggs.
The abandoned eggs were confiscated for proper disposal.
In a briefing Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said 1,500 eggs were confiscated in Caticlan Port and 21 metric tons (MT) of dressed chickens were seized in Cagayan de Oro Port.
The 1,500 eggs were from Candaba, Pampanga coursed through Batangas Port while the 21 MT dressed chickens were coursed through the Manila Port.
Transport of live birds and their byproducts within Luzon may be allowed provided that this is outside of the sevenkilometer radius control of area of Pampanga and subject to a shipping permit and a veterinary health certificate.