By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A total of 63 kilograms worth of ‘hot meat,’ which refers to meat that was illegally slaughtered, was seized by members of Bacolod City’s Task Force Botagoy following  two separate operations in the city’s Barangay Banago. Task Force head Edward Martin Pinaga said the operations commenced after receiving a complaint claiming meat was being displayed and sold along the national road in Puroks Riverside and Tinagong Paraiso.
28 kilograms were seized at Purok Tinagong Paraiso, while another 35 kilograms were retrieved from nearby Purok Riverside.
Pinaga said, during the operation, they found the meat in question lacked meat inspection certification and was not slaughtered by the AVM Slaughterhouse, the city’s accredited slaughterhouse in Barangay Handumanan.
Based on investigations by the task force, the vendors blamed the distance of the slaughterhouse from Barangay Banago. However, they also claimed they did not know it was required for all hogs planned for slaughter needed to be processed at the accredited slaughterhouse.
Pinaga said, since it was their first offense, they did not impose any penalties aside from confiscating their products.
The seized meat products were immediately brought to Barangay Handumanan and buried.
Earlier, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued an executive order creating Task Force African Swine Fever to ensure the city’s protection against the highly contagious animal disease.
The task force is one of the members of the swine fever task force with a primary function of conducting meat inspections./DGB, WDJ