Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar lauds all personnel on the ground – to include the local government units (LGUs), Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) – who apprehended a traveler, carrying several packets of processed pork products that tested positive for African Swine Fever (ASF), at the Mindoro port, on October 6, 2019.

The infected items, composed mostly of homemade products, were confiscated and properly disposed of by quarantine officers.

Said apprehension shows that strict and effective measures are in place and operational to prevent the spread of ASF, said Secretary Dar.

He added that anybody found selling and trading illegally slaughtered diseased animals are punishable under the law.

“Again, we strongly appeal to small backyard hog raisers not to sell their ASF-infected pigs to traders, and for traders not to sell infected hogs, and pork and processed products so as not to spread the ASF virus to other areas,” said Secretary Dar.

“We urge the general public to continue to buy pork products from market vendors and meat shops with NMIS certificates,” he added.

He also calls on all LGU officials and swine industry stakeholders to continuously sustain efforts to manage, contain and control ASF, and strictly enforce the “1-7-10” protocol and biosecurity and quarantine measures. ###

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Reference:
Noel Ocampo Reyes
DA Spokesperson
and A/Sec for Communications and Media Affairs
Mobile: 09284889686