BACOLOD City – The provincial government of Negros Occidental ordered 43 establishments to pull out all processed pork products coming from Luzon and identified African swine fever (ASF)-affected countries.
The directive came as simultaneous inspections were conducted province-wide by various teams in supermarkets, grocery stores, and similar establishments as the ASF Prevention Ordinance of Negros Occidental took effect on Monday.
Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena, co-chair of the Provincial ASF Task Force, also led a team during the conduct of inspection and monitoring.
As of Wednesday, the task force posted on its Facebook page that about 64 pork products were found in these establishments, which were given three days to pull out the said items from their shelves.
“Any violation of the provincial ordinance will be penalized,” it said.
The province’s ASF Prevention Ordinance prohibits the entry of live pig, boar semen, pork, and pork products, including food items containing pork originating from, and/or processed in Luzon and countries affected with ASF.
During the inspections conducted in various local government units, teams checked canned goods such as sausage, pork and beans, luncheon meat, and processed foods such as hotdogs, longganisa, and tocino.
The ordinance cited the ASF outbreak in several areas of Luzon such as the provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Cavite, Nueva, and also Quezon City.
Outbreak has been reported in Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea and Mongolia, and with active cases found in 17 other countries.
ASF is a contagious hemorrhagic viral disease among domestic and wild pigs that can spread rapidly regardless of borders.
Negros Occidental, the country’s number one backyard hog producer, with a PHP6-billion swine industry, has enforced since September 18 the ban on the entry of pork and pork products from Luzon.
On November 26, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer signed Provincial Ordinance 2019-024, otherwise known as “The ASF Prevention Ordinance of Negros Occidental”, to keep the province virus-free. (With a report from PNA/PN)
