Officials from Negros Occidental’s provincial anti-African swine fever task force seized a total of 777.25 kilograms of pork products from Cainta, Rizal during an inspection at Bacolod City’s Bredco Port last Wednesday afternoon. Thirteen boxes consisting of tocino, bacon, chorizo, and other assorted meat products, valued around P200,000, was shipped via M/V St. Therese of the Child Jesus.
A local processed meat distributor was the supposed recipient.
Provincial veterinarian, Dr. Renante Decena, said the seizure was a result of the ongoing 100-day ban preventing the entry of pork products from areas with positive cases of swine fever.
While the product was accompanied by supporting documents by the National Meat Inspection Service, since there is a local ban on meat products from Luzon, the task force decided to ship back the products.
Decena said his office will write to the concerned shipping lines and remind them not to allow its passengers or crew to bring prohibited items into the province within the ban period.
Earlier, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, who chairs the task force, issued Executive Order No. 19-40 Series of 2019, which temporarily bans pork products from Luzon.
The ban was implemented days after the Department of Agriculture confirmed positive cases of African swine fever in Luzon, particularly at farms in Rizal and Bulacan.
Last week, the task force also confiscated and burned several kilograms of imported meat products and assorted pork siopao from Manila./DGB, WDJ