Ma Ling, Chinese brand canned goods, are being readied to be burned at a furnace in a facility in Barangay Umapad, Mandaue City on September 5. | Rosallie Abatayo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The African Swine Fever (ASF) Task Force of Cebu Province disposed of over P470,000 worth of pork and pork products coming from countries that have reported cases of ASF
On Thursday afternoon, September 5, 90 kilos of frozen pork meat and Ma Ling, Chinese-brand canned pork, were disposed through thermal destruction at the RRDS Petro Chemical Industries in Barangay Umapad, Mandaue City.
Read more: P200-K worth of banned luncheon meat intercepted in Cebu City
The items included the 68 boxes of Ma Ling luncheon meat that were confiscated from a shipment at the Cebu Pier 1 last Tuesday, September 3, and other canned pork products surrendered by local supermarkets, said Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Mary Rose Vincoy.
She said that the confiscated meat and canned goods were burned by feeding them into a furnace at the Umapad facility.
Vincoy, who heads the ASF Task Force, said they would continue to strengthen their monitoring and surveillance against the entry of pork products from areas that had reported ASF cases.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) had earlier ordered the ban of pork products from 20 countries, including China, due to ASF threats.
Read more: Garcia: 100-day ban on entry of live pigs, other pork products remain
Also present during the thermal destruction were representatives of the Cebu Port Authority, FDA and the Bureau of Animal Industry, who are also part of the ASF Task Force.
The Cebu Provincial government is also implementing a strict port security against pork products shipped from other provinces to protect Cebu’s P10-billion hog industry.
Read more: ASF Task Force tells consumers to buy local pork
Vincoy encouraged the public to consider buying only local pork products while the threat of the ASF would be up in order to ensure their safety./dbs