SAN JOSE, Antique – The Antique Provincial Veterinary Office (ProVet) again reminded consumers not to patronize pork-based products from areas with African swine fever (ASF) cases.
ProVet Public Health Division head Dr. Rafael Marco Ardamil said there are still stores selling canned goods and other processed food laced with pork from ASF-hit areas.
“Only this Oct. 18 we were again able to confiscate pork-based products manufactured in Laguna,” he said.
The ProVet staff together with the Municipal Agriculture Officer (MAO) accompanied by police personnel confiscated more than 100 cans of pork and beans, pork liver spread, and sauce from a mini-grocery store in Hamtic town.
The sale of pork-based products is prohibited under Provincial Ordinance 2020-242 that banned the transport and sale of pork-based products from Luzon, Mindanao, and other ASF-affected areas.
“The confiscation in Hamtic came after we were also able to confiscate 69 canned pork sausage in a mini-grocery store in San Jose de Buenavista on Sept. 29,” Ardamil said.
When they started monitoring in May 2021, authorities already seized pork-based products from seven retail stores, one restaurant, and an itinerant vendor in the province. They were only reprimanded.
“The ProVet will be filing the appropriate charges in the court for violation of the Provincial Ordinance the second time the retailers would be found selling the prohibited food items,” said Ardamil. (PNA)
