MANILA – Agriculture secretary William Dar on Friday ordered the stricter implementation measures to contain and prevent the spread of African swine fever (ASF).
In the latest bulletin on ASF, Dar has called on all local government units (LGUs) and swine industry stakeholders to “continuously sustain efforts to manage, contain and control ASF, and strictly enforce the 1-7-10 protocol and biosecurity and quarantine measures.”
This comes in the wake of the apprehension of a traveler carrying several packets of processed pork products that tested positive for ASF at a Mindoro port.
Under the 1-7-10 protocol, the government culls all pigs within the one-kilometer radius of the affected farm, while the movement of pork and pork products within seven kilometers is limited. It also conducts surveillance and monitoring within the 10-kilometer radius.
The DA earlier confirmed that samples taken from processed pork products, such as hotdog, longganisa, and tocino, coming from a Manila-based company tested positive for the ASF virus.
“We received reports that the team of Mindoro quarantine personnel, along with NMIS (National Meat Inspection Service) and BAI (Bureau of Animal Industry) were able to apprehend hand-carried few items of tocino, hotdog and other meat products at the Calapan, Mindoro port,” said DA spokesman, assistant secretary Noel Reyes.
“This shows that these pork products came from ASF-affected areas in Luzon that were sold and processed by medium-scale enterprises,” he said.
DA undersecretary Ariel Cayanan, in a press briefing on Friday, clarified that the confiscated pork products were mostly “homemade”.
“It would be very unfair if we will mention a certain brand that might be contaminated due to ‘cross contamination’, meaning there is a possibility that the homemade pork products were the ‘carrier’ (of the ASF virus) and were mixed with branded ones in a container,” he explained.
As such, he said the DA Secretary ordered further laboratory testing on the confiscated meat products.
Dar lauded concerned LGUs, the BAI, and NMIS personnel for the apprehension which “shows that strict and effective measures are in place and operational to prevent the spread of ASF”.
He, however, warned that anybody found selling and trading illegally slaughtered diseased animals are punishable under the law.
“Again, we strongly appeal to small backyard hog raisers not to sell their ASF-infected pigs to traders, and for traders not to sell infected hogs, and pork and processed products so as not to spread the ASF virus to other areas,” Dar said.
He also urged the general public to continue to buy pork products from market vendors and meat shops with NMIS certificates. (PNA)
