Pampanga food firm denies involvement in chicken smuggling

PORAC, Pampanga — The management of the Mekeni Food Corp. (MFC) based here cried foul over reports implicating the company in the smuggling of 19 vans of frozen chicken quarters which were questionably released by some Customs personnel at the Batangas City port last Jan. 23.

"We were shocked by published reports that the drivers of the two container vans intercepted in Taguig were alleged to have stated that they were delivering the frozen chicken to Mekeni," said Prudencio Garcia, MFC director and treasurer.

MFC was classified by the National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC) last year as a "triple A" food company because of its world-class facilities and products.

Garcia vehemently denied that the MFC has been processing imported chicken, saying the company has never used any imported chicken since the administration of former President Joseph Estrada banned the importation of frozen meat products.

At least nine Customs personnel at the Batangas City port are now facing administrative and criminal charges after they allegedly released the 19 container vans of frozen chicken quarters imported from Canada and packed in the United States.

The shipment first passed through Taiwan, where cases of the deadly bird flu virus have been reported, before landing at the Batangas port.

Two of the vans were intercepted in Taguig last Jan. 29, and their drivers, identified as Antonio Lopez and Odelon Sorreda, allegedly told investigators that they were delivering the chicken to MFC in Pampanga. Published reports attributed this information to "sketchy" police reports.

"We examined the television footages on the interviews with the drivers and they never mentioned MFC, so we were shocked when our firm was implicated in published reports the following day. Either we were victims of black propaganda from competitors, or the drivers must have thought of an excuse at the time they were caught and simply mentioned Mekeni because our firm has really become well-known in the entire Luzon," Garcia said.

MFC has a 14-hectare plant in Barangay Balubad in this town. It started as a small-scale enterprise processing mostly hotdogs in 1988.

Since then, it has become one of the leading food processors in Pampanga, supplying its products to all provinces in Luzon.

"Aside from getting a ‘triple A’ rating from the NMIC, our firm was also adjudged by the agency as the best food processing plant in the entire Central Luzon. We have invested millions of pesos to make our processing plant world-class, so why would we destroy our image in these times when we know the epidemics plaguing poultry and livestock abroad?" he said.