Tacloban City—About P1.6 million worth of assorted frozen pork products from Bulacan were seized in Tacloban City on Friday, October 11, following the city’s total ban on pork-related products coming from Luzon due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever.
Dr. Eunice Alcantara, city veterinarian, said the driver of Marby Food Ventures delivery van failed to present complete documents required for meat products to enter Tacloban.
“The driver only showed us the delivery receipt of the products coming from Bulacan, which is considered as the “ground zero” for ASF that is why we confiscated the shipment,” Alcantara said.
The van was intercepted at around 10:20 a.m. Friday at the Veterinary Quarantine Checkpoint in San Juanico Bridge after it was found with 700 crates of frozen meat products.
“Shipments of Meat and other frozen meat products from outside Tacloban should have documents such as License to operate from the Food and Drug Administration, Certificate of Product Registration, Shipping Permit and Veterinary Health Certificate in case there are shipments of livestock,” the city veterinarian said in a statement.
According to Henry James Roca of the City Information Office, the driver showed receipts indicating that the products were bound to be delivered to stores in Tacloban, Ormoc, Digos City, Iligan City, San Francisco City, Koronadal City, Butuan, and Surigao.
He added that the confiscated pork meat products will be buried at the city-managed sanitary landfill in Barangay San Roque.
Mayor Alfred Romualdez has issued Executive Order No. 19-09-6, calling for ban on swine and pork products from Luzon and other identified ASF-affected areas in the country effective September 2019.
His order also led into the creation of an executive committee and task force to implement ASF preparedness and contingency plan to protect local hog raisers.
Alcantara assured the public that there is no shortage of pork products in the city.
“We need not worry about the pork supplies in the city, we have enough supplies coming from Mindanao,” said Alcantara in the report.
She added that there is no recorded case yet of ASF in Tacloban and nearby municipalities.
Although ASF is not a threat to human health, its deadly virus continues to affect domestic and wild pigs.