THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is keen on disallowing the sale of swill feeds, which experts suspect as one of the possible causes of the abnormal hog deaths in backyard farms recently.
DA Spokesman Noel O. Reyes said on Wednesday the government’s crisis management team (CMT) is now investigating swill feeding practices in areas where there are reported abnormal hog deaths.
Reyes said Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar instructed the CMT to come up with measures to “cut” supply lines of swill or kaning baboy, especially those leftovers coming from restaurants and hotels, to prevent them from reaching backyard raisers.
Reyes revealed that Dar got angry after he learned that swill feeding practice continues among backyard raisers amid the global threat of fatal swine diseases.
The still unidentified disease that caused unusual hog deaths was described by Reyes as one of the “major economic diseases” on animals.
Alert for ASF
At present, countries are on the lookout for the threat of African Swine Fever (ASF) after it showed its potential economic devastation in China and Vietnam, where millions of hogs have already died.
Swill feeding has been identified by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as “one of the major risks for introduction and spread” of major swine diseases since pathogens could still thrive in meat-based products.
“That’s the direction of our CMT on where [the disease came from]. Secretary [Dar] wants to investigate why there is still swill feeding and what are possible sources [of swill feeds],” Reyes said in a news briefing on Wednesday in Makati City.
“Secretary [Dar] wants stricter measures on swill feeding. We will cut the supply lines [of swill feeds],” Reyes added.
Avoid swill
Government officials and private stakeholders have been encouraging backyard raisers to avoid—or if possible stop—swill feeding since it could be a vector of diseases like ASF and foot and mouth disease.
In fact, about 62 percent of China’s first 21 ASF outbreaks were caused by swill feeding, according to a study by Beijing’s agriculture ministry.
Vietnam also blamed swill feeding as one of the reasons for the spread of ASF in the country, resulting in the death and culling of at least 4 million hogs as of today.
The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) advises backyard raisers to properly boil the swill if they cannot avoid feeding them to their hogs.
Cheaper than feeds
Backyard raisers prefer to buy swill since they are way cheaper than commercially available animal feeds.
In Rodriguez, Rizal, where an unusual mortality of hogs has been observed, backyard raisers told the BusinessMirror that they are able to buy swill at P180 per sack compared to the P1,500 per sack of animal feeds.
“The DA-BAI urges swine raises to improve their biosecurity measures and prohibit swill feeding,” Reyes said.
Reyes added that they are “closely monitoring” the situations in Regions 3 and 4A for unusual mortality of pigs.
Indemnification, confiscation
Reyes said authorities would confiscate meat being transported without proper government documentation, such as shipping permit and veterinary health certificate.
“We strongly require that movement and trade of live animals, meat and processed products be accompanied with appropriate veterinary health certificate, shipping permit and meat inspection certificate,” he said.
“We also urge the consumers to remain vigilant when buying meat and meat by-products, which should be duly inspected by the DA-National Meat Inspection Service,” he added.
Reyes said the CMT has started crafting an indemnification program for backyard raisers whose hogs would be culled by the government.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes