LOCAL meat processors have joined the call of importers for the Department of Agriculture (DA) to adopt a scientific basis in proposing a two-month moratorium on purchasing meat products from “high-risk” countries, or those near African swine fever (ASF)-affected states.
Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) President Felix O. Tiukinhoy Jr. said the government’s call for an import suspension has no technical and scientific basis.
Nonetheless, Tiukinhoy added that he has already relayed to his group’s members the request of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol for a voluntary halt to importation from countries deemed ASF high risk. “We told our members that they decide among themselves. We told them what the secretary said, but it would be up to our members to decide on their own,” Tiukinhoy told the BusinessMirror.
Disclose brands
Piñol told the BusinessMirror that he would look into the Pampi’s proposal that the government disclose the brands of the imported pork and process pork products that should be recalled from the market so as not to hurt locally produced ones.
“That could be done. We will coordinate with the FDA [Food and Drug Administration],” Piñol said via SMS.
Tiukinhoy urged the government to disclose the brands of pork and processed pork products to be recalled amid intensified efforts to keep out the ASF, which has ravaged hog populations in more than a dozen countries and territories, including Hong Kong and Asean neighbors Vietnam and Cambodia.
Tiukinhoy explained that the FDA order could create confusion among consumers that all canned products, imported or locally produced, may contain ASF virus, and hence veer away from buying even the safe ones.
“It is unfair to us for the FDA to issue sweeping general statements without naming the brands. If there are canned products that are imported from these ASF-affected countries, then disclose them,” he said.
“Because if that is the language of the government, then other products and brands, that are free from ASF, would be affected as consumers may be wary or suspicious of them, as well,” he added.
Pampi issued an earlier statementassuring consumers that processed meat products produced by the group do not contain materials from ASF-infected countries.
Pampi is working out a system with local supermarkets, to display on separate shelves the imported and locally produced processed meat products, Tiukinhoy said.
The local meat processing industry produces more than P300 billion in sales annually and provides direct employment to 150,000 people.
Just like the issue of “synthetic” vinegar recently, Laban Konsyumer Inc. President Victorio Dimagiba pointed out that the government is mandated under the Food Safety Act to immediately disclose the specific brands of processed meat products that should be pulled out from the market.
“More important in the recall is the country of origin of canned meat products as infected with African Swine Fever, as well as the brand name,” Dimagiba told the BusinessMirror.
Under the Food Safety Act, regulatory authorities are mandated to disclose vital information to the public on food items suspected to pose risks to human health and to public safety.