By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Bacolod City’s Task Force Botagoy, which monitors the processing and sale of meat products, will intensify inspections at various markets across the city ahead of the holiday season. Over the weekend, the task force, which is led by city agriculturist, Atty. Goldwyn Nifras, conducted an inspection at Libertad Public Market.
The task force found no irregularities as the meat products were slaughtered at the city’s AM Bernardo slaughterhouse in Barangay Handumanan.
In addition, imported processed food being sold at the market were also inspected and products originating from areas with reported cases of the African swine fever were not found.
In a follow-up interview yesterday morning, Executive Assistant Ernie Pineda, who serves as chief coordinator for the city’s Market Coordinating and Monitoring Task Force, said all hogs should be slaughtered at the city’s accredited slaughterhouse in order to ensure safety.
Pineda also advised consumers to check that the meat they are purchasing have the necessary permits.
Bacolod City Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran,  who is currently serving as acting mayor, will call meeting today to discuss preventive measures to ensure African swine fever does not enter the city./DGB, WDJ