KALIBO, Aklan – Authorities have destroyed meat products seized from inbound passengers at the Kalibo International Airport. The products were from countries where there is an outbreak of the African Swine Fever (ASF).
Dr. Christine Lynn Melgarejo, regional veterinary quarantine officer, confirmed that a total of 242.5 kilos of confiscated raw and processed meat products were buried in a local sanitary landfill on Tuesday.
The products were confiscated from passengers mostly coming from China and Korea, bound to the world-famous Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan.
According to the Veterinary Quarantine Station in Western Visayas, foreign tourists are fond of bringing “baon” or “pasalubog” in form of meat commodities which is being discouraged in height of the African swine flu in South East Asia.
ASF is a contagious hemorrhagic viral disease among domestic and wild pigs that can spread rapidly regardless of borders. Though ASF is not a risk to human health, it can still bring serious economic and production losses to the swine industry. (With a report from VQS Region 6/PN)
