Philippines bans Nebraska poultry exports

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BY ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star

The damage to Nebraska’s agricultural economy may not be much, but Tuesday’s announcement of a Philippine government ban on Nebraska poultry and poultry products might give consumers some anxious moments.

The advice from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture: Rest easy. Even though a Seward County commercial turkey flock has tested positive for bird flu, also known as avian influenza, this is a much milder strain than the one blamed for the death of birds and dozens of people in Southeast Asia over the last two years.

In fact, it is so mild, said Deputy State Veterinarian Del Wilmot, that even the turkeys show no signs of illness and their meat is still being processed for human consumption.

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(LJS File)

(LJS File)

“It’s not a human health concern,” Wilmot said, “so those birds can go into the food chain.”

Trouble, at least as seen from the Philippine vantage point, began with routine Nebraska testing in June. The source of the problem was isolated in July and reported to the international agency that tracks monthly disease updates.

Not until Tuesday, when the Philippine response was picked up by international online news services, did the matter attract much media attention in the United States.

In fact, Russia and Japan imposed similar bans earlier.

Wilmot said migratory waterfowl probably brought the disease to Seward County. He declined to name the turkey grower.

“We haven’t, to this point, made that information public,” he said. “Any time we’re dealing with a disease in the Department of Agriculture, we try to keep as much confidentiality to the producers as we can.”

An ongoing quarantine means only that birds cannot enter or leave the Seward County farm without department permission, “and the only movement we’ve got right now is birds on their way to being processed.”

Procedures would be different if there were a reason to warn the public about food purchases, Wilmot said. But with this situation, he said, “there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to publicize it.”

A statement released to the news media by the Philippine Department of Agriculture identified the country as one of only three in Southeast Asia still free of bird flu. The ban imposed by the Philippines also applies to poultry from Virginia.

Christin Kamm, spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture, said there are at least three Nebraska-based poultry and eggs processors that export to the Philippines. Kamm described the processors’ exports to the Philippines as “a very, very small percentage” of their overall business.

Wilmot said the contrasting responses to the turkey flu findings -- bans by three countries but none in Nebraska -- are not a cause for alarm.

“As far as disease concerns, this is certainly not a problem,” he said, “but there are trade sanctions and the politics side of it that get involved” in the international sector.

Patty Lovera of Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit, consumer advocacy group in Washington, D.C., saw the situation as a tough one.

“I can understand why any country importing any poultry wants to be very cautious about this,” Lovera said, “because it’s a disease you don’t want to bring into your system.”

At the same time, “I don’t think any consumer is going to be thrilled that a bird from a quarantine area might end up in their food supply or on their dinner table.”

Given her preference, the turkeys would not go to food outlets in the United States either -- at least until test results are negative, until any special risks to bird handlers and bird processors are explored, and until there are better answers about how bird flu can evolve from less-deadly to more-deadly strains.

“Now’s the time to figure some of this stuff out before we have bigger problems,” she said.

Reach Art Hovey at 523-4949 or at ahovey@alltel.net.