Hygienic handling of meat in markets urged

BACOLOD City Councilor Bartolome Orola urged the City Administrator’s Office, City Legal Office, and the Enforcement Team to strictly enforce the rules and regulations on the hygienic handling of newly slaughtered meat in markets.

Orola, who authored the resolution, said: “there is a need to increase the awareness of meat traders, meat market owners or administrators, meat vendors, and the consuming public on conditions for the safe handling of meat and the implementation of meat safety standards to avoid food-borne diseases.”

The city government should strictly implement Department of Agriculture (DA) Administrative Order No.5 Series of 2012, on the regulations on the hygienic handling of newly slaughtered meat in markets, he reiterated.

He also said that Consumer Act of the Philippines requires the DA to provide safety and quality standards for consumer products related to agriculture to assure the protection of the public against unreasonable risks of injury and hazards to health.

Orola noted that DA Administrative Order (AO) No. 5, series of 2012, Section 3, meat dealers, vendors and handlers involved in the business of providing delivering and/or selling meat and meat products for meat markets are responsible for the safety and quality of the meat and meat products which they trade, slaughter, prepare, cut, process, pre-packaged, chill, transport, sell, or handle in any other way related to this guideline.

Orola said DA-AO No. 5, section 6 thereof, provides the rules and regulations which shall be strictly observed in the handling of newly slaughtered meat.

He said the meat shall be displayed at a cool and dry part of the market where the air humidity is low or as low as naturally achievable.

The meat should be in a hanging position to allow circulation of air.

If the meat is not hanging, it shall not be stacked one on top of the other, the cutting area shall always be maintained under good sanitary conditions.

The cutting tools such as knives, chopping board sharpener shall at all times be maintained in good sanitary condition, meat on display should not be handled unnecessarily by buyers.

Clean tongs or similar tools should be made available to consumers to minimize contamination; wrapping material that comes in contact with the meat during the sale should not introduce contaminants.

Printed wrapping materials like newspaper must not be used, and used wrapping materials shall not be re-used, Orola added.