The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday appealed to traders to halt smuggling pork products from banned countries like China as a measure to avert the entry of animal diseases in light of a new swine flu strain discovered in Beijing.
The DA said this is the appeal of Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar to traders following the reports of a new swine flu strain in China dubbed as G4 that has potential to trigger a pandemic.
“The Secretary’s appeal is to be vigilant and there should not be any smuggling of pork and pork products from China. Because there are still smuggled goods entering the country,” it said.
The DA said it is asking the businesses that smuggle illegal pork and pork products through the country’s seaports to stop their unscrupulous trade to protect the local livestock industries from animal diseases.
Despite having a “high level” of quarantine measures, the DA said some smugglers are still able to continue their practice of bringing in illegal meat products, which serves as a pathway for the entry of animal diseases, such as African Swine Fever.
“Let’s stop this. Bring in the products through legal means,” the DA said.
Earlier, The Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. (ProPork) said the discovery of a new strain of the dreaded swine flu, a descendant of the 2009 strain in China, should not be a “cause for alarm” as meat imports from the East Asian country are banned.
ProPork President Edwin G. Chen told the BusinessMirror that swine flu is a common hog disease in the world and the country does not allow pork imports from China, where the new strain was discovered.
“We do not allow imports from China, so no cause for alarm. Usually, those that have direct contact with live pigs are susceptible,” he said.
“Since this new strain is in China there should be no cause for alarm. Every year deaths due to swine flu in America are very high,” he added.
Foreign media have reported that a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of becoming a pandemic. The new strain was called G4, which is a descendant of the H1N1 strain that caused the 2009 pandemic.
The study was based on surveillance of hogs in 10 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2018. The researchers also collected 338 blood samples from workers on 15 pig farms and 230 from people in nearby households.
The study, conducted by Chinese and British scientists, revealed that some 10.4 percent of Chinese swine workers were and 4.4 percent of others have tested positive for antibodies to G4, indicating an animal to human transmission.
The DA has urged the public to report any unusual pig mortalities in their farms to ensure swift actions amid threats of fatal animal diseases today.
The DA also assured the public that pork products from China remain banned.
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