African swine fever spreading but can be managed, Department of Agriculture says

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the rising number of areas affected by the African swine fever, the Department of Agriculture on Wednesday claimed the disease remains "managed" and can be eradicated if hog raisers and traders cooperate with authorities.

A report submitted by the Philippines recently to the World Organization for Animal Health revealed that there have been new outbreaks of the hog disease in parts of Caloocan, Malabon, Pampanga, and Bulacan.  

A total of 24 new outbreaks, 555 ASF cases and 177 hog deaths were reported from August 19 to October 8, according to the report, which was prepared by Ronnie Domingo, the chief veterinary officer of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

A total of 40,303 pigs were culled during the period.

But Reildrine Morales, head of the secretariat of the Agriculture department's crisis management team on the ASF, maintained that the disease remains manageable.

"It can be controlled, it can be managed, and it can be eradicated. If we control it, it can be easily eradicated. What we are saying is the virus should not have a chance to spread," Morales said in a press briefing Malacañang.

"If we look at ASF, I think at this point, the ASF is still managed. The level of spread of the disease is a level we can call managed," he added.

Morales explained that in Vietnam, about 600,000 hogs are culled per month, way higher than the 70,000 hogs killed in the Philippines.

"The spread of the ASF is slow here. The problem is some farmers do not surrender their hogs. If you remember, some dead pigs were seen floating on rivers... The key here is the cooperation among farmers, traders and consumers. Let us help each other so we can easily recover from the problem," he added.

Morales urged small backyard raisers to report to their local governments or provincial veterinarians any sign of disease or deaths of pigs in their area and to refrain from swill feeding, particularly those from airlines, restaurants and hotels.

He said the Food and Drug Administration has also inspected 63 out of 68 big meat processing plants in the Philippines. So far, the FDA has not detected any problem with the auditing processes of the processing plants save for that of Mekeni Food Corp., whose products have tested positive for ASF, Morales said.

Morales reiterated that ASF is not a human health concern but the Food Safety Act of 2013 prohibits the sale, trade and slaughter of the meat of sick or dead pigs. 
Violators may face imprisonment from six to 12 years or slapped with a fine of P100,000 to P1 million or both. He advised the public to look for the seal and certificate issued by the National Meat Inspection Service when buying meat.