The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday announced a temporary ban on the importation of animal products from Germany following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious virus that affects cloven-hoofed livestock.

In a statement, the DA said Germany was notified on 10 January by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) of confirmed FMD cases in domestic buffaloes in Hoppegarten in the Märkisch-Oderland district of Brandenburg.

As a result, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. ordered the halt of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances.

FMD is a highly contagious viral infection that primarily affects cattle, with other cloven-hoofed animals, including pigs, sheep, goats and buffaloes, also susceptible. It poses a high mortality rate, particularly among young animals.

DA data showed the Philippines last year imported 3,177.5 metric tons of beef from Germany, accounting for approximately 0.5 percent of the country’s total beef imports. The European nation was also a “significant source” of pork until 2020 when a separate ban was imposed due to an outbreak of African Swine Fever.

The Agriculture chief said the import ban will remain in effect until Germany regains FMD-free status from WOAH.

Certain products are exempt from the ban, including ultra-high temperature milk and derivatives, heat-treated meat products in hermetically sealed containers, protein meal, and gelatin, in vivo-derived bovine embryos, and limed hides, pickled pelts, and semi-processed leather, subject to the Philippines’ import terms and conditions.

Products already in transit or at ports are also exempt, provided they were sourced from animals slaughtered before 26 December 2024.