MANILA,Philippines — A leading agricultural group said 99.6 percent of local hogs nationwide are free of African swine fever (ASF).
Rosendo So, chairman of Samahan ng Industriyang Agrikultura (Sinag), said there was nothing to fear because hogs afflicted with the disease have all been culled.
The number of hogs affected “is very negligible,” So said, adding that more quarantine checkpoints have been set up to ensure that only those certified by the National Meat Inspection Service as ASF-free reach market shelves.
So also took a swipe at Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. spokesman Rex Agarrado’s statement that they would not buy pork from local farmers to reassure the public that PAMPI products are safe amid the ASF outbreak.
What brought ASF into the country were imported meat and processed meat,” So stressed.
On Wednesday, So went around remote barangays in the boundaries of Pangasinan-Tarlac and Pangasinan-Nueva Ecija to coordinate with various local government officials, including village executives and watchmen, to set up additional checkpoints to beef up quarantine monitoring by the provincial government and guard against ASF.
He said some unscrupulous traders skirt around remote barangays in Pangasinan to evade checkpoints along the highways in a bid to bring uncertified ASF-free pork meat in the province coming from outside sources of dubious nature.
Earlier, a trader in Mapandan, Pangasinan brought 60 hogs from ASF-affected area outside the province by passing through interior barangay roads.
About 15 of the hogs tested positive of the virus. Later tests within the one-kilometer radius in Mapandan showed the hogs were negative of ASF.
Despite this statement, local meat processors will cut down on their work force amid the continued ban of local government units on processed products following the rising cases of ASF in the country.
PAMPI said the arbitrary ban or restrictions on the sale and distribution of processed pork products is forcing some meat processing companies to downsize operations and lay off workers.
“PAMPI member-companies are being forced to draw contingency measures to stay in business. These measures include downsizing operations and sending workers on a furlough or permanent layoff,” PAMPI president Felix Tiukinhoy said.
Due to the ongoing ban on the entry of processed meat products in provinces, processors have cut down on production following lack of assurance that their merchandise will be sold.
PAMPI, however, did not provide figures on the exact number of employees to be laid off or the companies cutting down on their work force.
“We are all preparing to downsize. We will implement mitigating measures to minimize loss of jobs, ultimately, a 40 to 50 percent drop in sales of our year-round pork products will leave us no choice but to lay off people,” PAMPI vice president and CDO Foodsphere president Jerome Ong told The STAR in a text message.