THE Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas has issued food pass and food lane vehicle pass cards to suppliers and farm producers in the region including Negros Occidental.
DA-Western Visayas, in its Facebook page, said the move is aimed at ensuring the unhampered movement of all cargoes, agriculture and fishery inputs, food products, and agribusiness personnel in the region during the community quarantine period.
The regional line agency set requirements for food lane accreditation including scanned copies of business permit, official receipt of registration, and certificate of registration.
It also requires duly accomplished food lane accreditation application form, food lane reference form and statement of commitment.
Handler’s license and accreditation of transport, and carrier issued by the Bureau of Animal Industry or accreditation of meat transport vehicle issued by the National Meat Inspection Services (NMIS) for livestock, poultry, and by-products are also required.
The forms can be accessed through the website: www.agribusiness.da.gov.ph and downloadable also through https://bit.ly/3aYJkBQ.
Other requirements include food lane accreditation, general requirement during their normal delivery, local shipping permit (LSP) for live animals, animal products, and animal by-products, and supporting documents.
For live poultry and livestock animals, supporting documents like veterinary health certificate issued by a licensed veterinarian with occurrence of the government veterinarian valid for the days from the date of issuance are required.
For fresh or frozen and imported meat, the NMIS Certification of Meat Inspection is required.
Meat Inspection Certificate is required for locally-sourced meat, while additional documents for uncooked processed meat products are Food and Drug Administration License to Operate and Certificate of Product Registration.
Food pass and food lane vehicle pass cards can be availed from different provincial offices of DA-Western Visayas.