THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has issued an order, its chief said, excluding processed meat products from the bans imposed by local government units (LGUs) as preventive measures against African swine fever (ASF).
Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año said he has issued an order directing all the LGUs to exempt Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-certified processed meat products from their import bans.
Año’s statement comes amid pronouncements of the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) that their group may incur P50 billion to P60 billion in losses due to import bans imposed by provincial and local governments.
“Nagpalabas na ako ng kautusan sa mga LGUs ngayon na hindi kasama ‘yung processed meat, lalo na kapag may ano ‘yan, may mga FDA certifications [at] approval [I’ve issued an order telling LGUs that processed meat, especially those with FDA certifications and approval, are excluded from any ban],” Año said in a radio interview on Monday.
“Canned goods, hindi kasama yan, safe yan. Ang raw meat ang ating pinapa-quarantine [Canned goods are excluded from bans, they’re safe. We impose quarantine on raw meat],” he added.
Año explained that the exemption on processed meat product is meant to ensure that the country would not run out of supply in the run-up to the holiday season.
“May pinalabas na tayo diyan na order in coordination with DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] and DA [Department of Agriculture]. Basta processed meat, canned goods hindi kasama iyan. Otherwise, mahirapan tayo diyan, mauubusan tayo ng supply [We have issued an order in coordination with DTI and DA that processed meat [products] and canned goods are not included in the ban. Otherwise, we would suffer and we may run out of supply],” he said.
Pampi Spokesman Rex Agarrado welcomed the pronouncement of Año, which he said could cut the estimated losses that meat processors may incur in the last quarter of the year.
“We [Año] did is a respect of science, respect out of expert opinion. There will be solutions to this problem and science should be the basis to all of this,” Agarrado told the BusinessMirror on Monday.
Agarrado explained that their industry may incur about P22 billion of losses this holiday season due to the import ban imposed by provincial governments on their products.
This accounts for at least 40 percent of Pampi’s estimated total losses this year.
Agarrado explained that 40 percent of the meat processing industry’s total volume sales happen in the last quarter of the year.
“Certainly, we cannot get anymore the lost volume for Christmas products. We already cut our production by 20 percent and it is too late in the season to catch up,” he said.
But with the DILG order, he added, “at least [there could be] a reduction from our estimated losses in the last three months.”
In a statement over the weekend, Pampi had warned that there would not be enough Christmas hams and other pork-based products in the Visayas and Mindanao during the Christmas festivities as a result of the import bans imposed by provincial governments in the two areas.
This, Pampi noted, could also result in a possible oversupply for Luzon.
“While Cebu and Cagayan de Oro have their own ham production capabilities, their total production will not be able to supply the needs of the region, unless the ban on Luzon-produced pork-based processed meats is rationalized,” Pampi said on Sunday.
Visayas and Mindanao account for 35 percent to 40 percent of the P300-billion total sales of processed meat products annually, Pampi said.