Meat products from China seized

MANILA, Philippines — Two container vans loaded with meat and processed meat products from China have been intercepted at the Port of Manila, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said yesterday.

Also yesterday, Pampanga-based processed meat manufacturer Mekeni Food Corp. initiated a voluntary recall after some of its products tested positive for African swine fever (ASF) as it awaits results of further tests. 

Based on the cargo manifest, the two refrigerated containers contained tomato paste and vermicelli.

When inspected, the contents included dimsum, dumplings, Peking ducks, fresh and frozen duck desserts, pork meat and pork products, marinated chicken wings, minced vegetables with meat, egg noodles, breaded chicken fillet, fresh and frozen squid rings and frozen scallops.

“The items were stuffed in reefer containers with temperature setting at -18 degrees celsius, indicating the goods inside were not what they were declared to be,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.

The shipments were intercepted by the DA Anti-Smuggling Unit and Compliance and Regulatory Enforcement for Security and Trade Office and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

The containers were consigned to JENITI International Trading located in Binondo, Manila.

The DA has yet to provide the value of the confiscated shipment.

Based on BOC regulations, the shipments were misdeclared goods.

“The Bureau of Customs will now proceed and detail all the value. And the BAI will also collect samples from the products for testing,” Dar said, referring to the Bureau of Animal Industry.

“We will also coordinate with the BOC on the filing of charges, particularly on the violation of the Food Safety Act,” he added.

The ASF outbreak occurred in China in August last year. It has since spread to other countries in Asia, including the Philippines.

China is the largest producer of pigs, as half of the world’s herd is there. It is now losing about 44 percent of its hog population, prompting world market prices to shoot up.

Since last year, the Philippines has banned the importation, distribution and sale of processed pork products from ASF-affected countries.

Aside from China, these include Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Laos, Latvia, Myanmar, Moldova, Mongolia, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Dar said all pork products from these countries would be confiscated by the DA-BAI veterinary quarantine inspectors.

The DA has confirmed that the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Pangasinan and Rizal as well as Quezon City have ASF cases.

The DA has so far culled 62,000 hogs since the outbreak started in August.

BOC procedure

Meanwhile, the BOC has assured the public that it has procedures in place to ensure the safe entry of imported meat products in the wake of the ASF outbreak.

Importers of regulated products, including meat, are required to secure import permits as part of customs clearance, the BOC said over the weekend.

The agency issued the statement amid reports that various processed meat products have tested positive for ASF.

The Port of Cebu, one of several ports that caters to imported meats, said imported meat products are required to secure a sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance from the BAI.

“Shipments are subjected to inspection by the BAI, regardless of the selectivity, as part of the first border inspection, and issued a signed SPISC,” the Port of Cebu said.

Imported meat products are delivered to designated cold storage facility, where the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) conducts a thorough examination. In some cases, BOC representatives are invited to witness the process.

“The bureau assures the public that border security is a primary concern of the agency and close coordination with regulatory agencies are done to ensure the safe and legal entry of regulated products into the country,” the BOC said.

The agency said it has apprehended various shipments containing frozen pork meat products in various ports as part of the agency’s commitment to prevent the entry of ASF-infected meat.

The shipments were seized for violation of Sections 117 and 118 of Republic Act 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.

The government reported the country’s first ASF outbreak in September. 

The DA said the local hog industry stands to lose close to $20 million per month due to the ASF outbreak.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has also warned of an upside risk to inflation in 2020 due to swine fever.

Following these developments, Malacañang called for a concerted government effort to manage, contain and control the disease.

Recall

A Pampanga-based processed meat manufacturer, whose products allegedly tested positive for ASF, has initiated a recall of all its pork-based products.

In a statement, Mekeni Food Corp. said it decided to initiate a voluntary recall of all pork-based products effective yesterday as it awaits results of further tests being conducted.

“This is to ensure that we mitigate the possibility that our products inadvertently become carriers of ASF,” the manufacturer said.

Mekeni has submitted samples of its pork-based products to the BAI as well as an independent testing facility.

“While we have always been fully compliant with all government regulations, we also have been cooperating with the Department of Agriculture and the BAI in their ongoing testing of products for possible exposure to ASF,” Mekeni said.

“However, we would like to stress that these products are safe for consumption. No less than the DA and the Department of Health have reiterated that ASF poses no danger to human health,” it added.

Mekeni emphasized that it has always been committed to providing the best quality products to every Filipino family over the last 32 years.

Dar welcomed the decision of Mekeni to recall their products.

“That’s their decision, we are just implementing regulations. If this is part of solving the problem then that is a welcome development,” Dar said in a briefing yesterday.

The DA is looking at the possibility of cross contamination among the confiscated processed meat products that tested positive for ASF, prompting the agency to conduct further investigation.

All confiscated products, which included Mekeni and other unbranded homemade products, were placed in one container, thus the possibility of cross contamination.

Mekeni earlier maintained that as an ISO-certified company, the firm strictly adheres to the highest food safety and quality standards.

“We fully comply with the government regulations to ensure that our process and products are within the required standards. All our raw meats are strictly inspected by the NMIS and have all the required certification from regulatory bodies,” it said.

“We are willing to cooperate with whatever audit, we are open to that, they can see our process, everything that we are using. We have our traceability,” the firm added.

Meanwhile, the municipal government of Rozales in Pangasinan has ordered a total ban on the entry of all live hogs, pork and pork-related products.

Mayor Susan Pagador-Casareno said they have to protect the town from ASF as it is the last point of inspection for pigs and meat products intended for the northern provinces and the Cordilleras, as well as the point of entry of meat products from the north going to the south.

The local government, in coordination with the NMIS and the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian, conducted a meeting with stakeholders who sought a total ban on the entry of live pigs and pork meat products.