Piñol, local officials, eat chicken lugaw in San Luis amid bird flu outbreak

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol and local officials of San Luis, Pampanga ate fried duck, chicken lugaw, and balut on Tuesday amid the avian influenza outbreak in the municipality.

According to a report on GMA's "Quick Response Team," Piñol ate chicken lugaw (porridge), piniritong itik (fried duck), and balut (boiled fertilized duck's egg) in San Luis.

"Merong mga strain 'yung nag-mu-mutate – 'yung H5N1, yung H5N6. Hindi ito 'yung bird flu na ito. Ang nasa atin H5 lang, which is a virus that affects only animals," Piñol said in the report.

The Animal Disease Control Section of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) earlier said infected bird samples will be sent to Australia for further testing to determine which N subtype of the virus was reported in Pampanga.

"We still have to know kung ano 'yung N na subtype ... 'Yung avian influenza po talaga, 'yung complete na substrain niya kailangan ma-identify 'yung H and 'yung N," it added. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News