THE Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-Mindanao East Cluster was able to confiscate almost P1 million worth of imported processed pork products in Davao City since the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak in the Philippines.
FDA-Mindanao East Cluster Director Debbie Legaspi said the bulk of these canned pork products came from China.
She said the temporary ban on the importation, distribution, and sale of all processed pork meat products from ASF-affected countries is still in effect.
The countries specified in their latest advisory dated July 30, 2019 are China, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, Zambia, South Africa, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Mongolia, Moldova, Belgium, Hong Kong, North Korea, Laos, and Germany.
"Habang may problema sa African Swine Fever (ASF), talagang hindi natin hinahayaang makapasok ang mga pork processed meat (While we still have issues on ASF, we will not let processed pork meat to enter our area)," Legaspi told SunStar at the sidelines of Habi at Kape press conference.
She said it will only be lifted as soon as the country is ASF-free.
"Hindi naman pwedeng forever magkaroon ng ban kasi tayo man din ang kawawa. Whole industry ang maaapektuhan (We cannot ban it forever because it will affect our businesses)," she said.
She said the agency continuously monitors stores where these kinds of products are sold in close coordination with the City Veterinarian's Office (CVO).
Legaspi said one of their challenges is the availability of the facilities to properly dispose the confiscated canned products.
"We are still looking for facilities like Cebu that do not have to open the canned products. Direcho susunugin sa facility," she said.
As of the moment, confiscated canned products are immediately destroyed.