By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

With African swine fever still a concern across the country, the Negros Occidental provincial government’s task force on swine fever seized a total of 8.5 kilograms of assorted pork products yesterday morning at Bacolod-Silay Airport. Based on information provided by the task force, the items had “misdeclared documents.”
They also cited the ongoing 90-day ban imposed by the provincial government on all pork shipments from Luzon.
The concerned pork products was immediately returned to their point of origin.
Aside from the pork, the task force also confirmed processing a total 422 kilograms of beef, chicken, lamb, and cheese products, which had complete documents and were issued a landing permit.
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 cases of African swine fever in Luzon, particularly at farms in Rizal and Bulacan.
Last week, the task force confiscated and burned several kilograms of imported meat products and assorted pork siopao from Manila./DGB, WDJ