Lycos - Sun. We can't do anything kung naa gyo'y smuggling. Star Cagayan de Oro. However, he said the quarantine division of the Department of Agriculture is strictly monitoring any shipment of imported chicken entering Region 10. This, Chan said, is also in line with the directive issued by DA Secretary Leonardo Montemayor banning the importation of chicken and other bird products from China including Hongkong and Macau, where the avian flu have been spreading.
Avian flu is an illness in the respiratory system of chicken.
During his visit in the city last Wednesday, Montemayor said the ban was aimed at protecting the country's poultry and chicken industry. It is entirely possible that the source of the infected chicken is from mainland China since up to 90 percent of chicken sold in Hongkong and Macau came from China. However, the recent strain discovered in Hongkong does not affect human beings. Meanwhile, Chan said the banning of chicken importation from other countries can bring positive effect to the chicken industry. This, he said, is because this would tend to increase the demand for local chicken meat.