Slaughterhouses most vulnerable to FMD

TARLAC CITY — Government veterinarians have noted that slaughterhouses have recorded high occurrences of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) since last year.

Speaking before members of the Tarlac Swine Raisers’ Association here, Dr. Reildrin Morales, deputy chief of the National FMD Task Force of the Department of Agriculture (DA)’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), said that this year alone, there have been 23 instances of FMD outbreaks in slaughterhouses, which affected 13 slaughterhouses.

Cases of FMD outbreaks coming from slaughterhouses from January to middle of August this year have been more prevalent in Regions of I, III, IV and the National Capital Region (NCR).

Specifically, these were in Sto. Domingo and Vigan towns in Ilocos Sur; Gapan in Nueva Ecija; Guiguinto and San Juan del Monte in Bulacan; and Guagua in Pampanga; Cainta, Taytay and Tanay in Rizal, Antipolo City; and Los Banos, San Pedro and San Pablo in Laguna.

In NCR, these were in Quezon City, Pasig, Tondo, San Juan, Muntinlupa, La Pinas, Malabon, Caloocan and Pasay.

Being primarily blamed for the recent spread of FMD are the "viajeros" (shippers) who source the farm animals that they transport to slaughterhouses from backyard farms that are rarely checked by either government or private practicing veterinarians.

According to Morales, Central Luzon alone has 800,000 pigs in backyard farms.

He added that compared to last year, FMD cases have been reduced by more than 50 percent this year. — Benjie Villa