MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines Department of Agriculture (DA) issued Department Circular 50, imposing a temporary ban on imports of live cattle, beef products, and bovine-derived processed animal proteins from the United Kingdom.
The regulatory directive was signed by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. following official notification from UK Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Christine Middlemiss confirming a classical C-type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE / Mad Cow Disease) outbreak on a farm in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
Disease Confirmation & Public Health Justification
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder in cattle caused by prions—abnormally folded proteins that damage the animal’s central nervous system.
The case was confirmed through diagnostic testing performed by Eurofins and the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in Weybridge.
The DA noted that classical BSE poses public health risks due to its established causal link to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) in humans, a rare and fatal brain condition contracted by consuming beef contaminated with BSE prions.
Specific Enforcement Measures Under Department Circular 50
Under the immediate provisions of Department Circular 50, the Department of Agriculture has instituted strict trade enforcement actions:
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SPSIC Freeze: The evaluation, processing, and issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearances (SPSICs) for UK cattle, beef, and bovine-derived products are suspended.
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Clearance Revocation: Previously issued SPSICs covering UK beef products that have not yet arrived at Philippine ports of entry are officially revoked.
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Port-of-Entry Inspections: Veterinary Quarantine Officers (VQOs) across all sea and air ports have been directed to conduct stringent border monitoring, halting unauthorized cattle shipments.
Market & Economic Context
The Philippines periodically enforces precautionary bans against countries reporting transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) to protect domestic livestock herds and preserve food safety standards.
While the UK animal health authorities confirmed that the affected carcass did not enter the human food chain and that precautionary movement restrictions remain active at the Scottish origin farm, the Philippine DA maintains a zero-tolerance policy for classical BSE entries until comprehensive contact-tracing and risk assessment reports are reviewed.
