The Philippine agriculture department has lifted the temporary ban on meat and bone meal imports from the U.S. as global health authorities has certified that incidence of mad cow disease in this country has been controlled.
Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Tuesday that the World Animal Health Organization or the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) has adopted a resolution recognizing the U.S. as a "Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) controlled risk."
This means that there has been no case of BSE, or, if there has been a case, every case of BSE has been demonstrated to have been imported and has
been completely destroyed.
The Philippine agriculture department has "confirmed that meat and bone meal (MBM) and other animal protein products are regulated and verified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( USFDA) for compliance with BSE-related regulations and chemical residue tolerances," Yap said in a
statement.
Yap said the USFDA has also prohibited cattle material from being used as animal feed.