Owners of restaurants offering unlimited chicken promos are complaining of a low supply of poultry due to the import ban because of bird flu.
Jayson Asinas sells about 300 pieces of fried chicken per day.
He uses imported frozen chicken, which he buys in bulk.
According to Asinas, his income declined due to the pandemic.
“Titigil muna siguro kami sa pagtinda dahil wala din naman tinutubo… Konti-konti lang ang supply, napakahirap din sa manok ang kumuha,” said Asinas.
But due to limited supply, the price of Asinas’ merchandise has also increased, especially chicken wings which are now P14 per piece from P12.
Recently, the Department of Agriculture (DA) issued an import ban of poultry products, such as chicken, from the United Kingdom.
This is due to H5N8 or Avian influenza which infects species of birds, poultry, and even humans.
According to the Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA), the supply of chicken wings and legs from Europe is running out.
Stores offering unli chicken affected by import ban due to bird flu
Due to the import ban, fast food restaurants or those like Asinas that sell “unli chicken wings” are affected.
“‘Yong chicken wings very tight ang supply so ‘yong ibang nag-uunli wings talagang nahihirapan sila ngayon,” said MITA President Jess Cham.
The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc (PAMPI) also laments that 55 percent of mechanically-deboned meat, which is needed for the manufacture of processed meat products such as hotdogs, meatloaf, luncheon meat, siomai and others comes from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany.
They are said to be running out of raw materials so they may be forced to raise prices by 20 percent to 25 percent.
PAMPI and MITA asked the DA to consider zonal banning, based on the guidelines of the international animal health organization.
“Pinag-aaralan po natin na mayroon ‘yong prinsipyo na sa isang bansa, na hindi naman lahat the whole country is affected by a certain virus or disease. Doon sa mga source or areas na regions na hindi apektado, we are looking at the possibility of giving permits basta makita po namin na walang incidents dito sa mga areas na ito,” said Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
Europethe 2nd smallest continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia); the British use ‘Europe’ to refer to all of the continent except the British IslesMore (Definitions, Synonyms, Translation)