THE Philippines has banned pork imports from Belgium, one of the country’s top suppliers of meat products, to prevent the entry of African swine fever (ASF) after Brussels confirmed that the disease killed wild boars in Luxembourg.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol issued Memorandum Order (MO) 31, which authorized the blanket ban on the importation of domestic and wild pigs and their products, including meat and semen from Belgium.
Piñol issued the order after Belgium’s national laboratory confirmed the outbreak of the dreaded hog disease in Etalle, Luxembourg, which killed wild boars.
“There is a need to prevent the entry of ASF virus to protect the health of the local swine population,” Piñol said in MO 31.
MO 31 ordered the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for the importation of pork products from Belgium.
It also ordered the DA veterinary quarantine officers and inspectors to confiscate all meat shipments coming from Belgium.
“Frozen pork meats with slaughter/process date on or before August 25, 2018, are allowed to enter the coutnry subject to veterinary quarantine rules and regulations,” Piñol said.
In 2017 Belgium exported 15,103.634 metric tons (MT) of pork products to the Philippines, which was 7.57 percent lower than the 16,340.017 MT it shipped in 2016.
Piñol also issued MO 30 which imposed the same blanket ban on pork imports from five other countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova, South Africa and Zambia.
This brings to 13 the total number of countries banned by Manila to export products to the Philippines due to the ASF outbreak.
The confirmation of an ASF outbreak in Belgium has caused the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to go on heightened alert as it was near Germany, the country’s top source of imported pork products.
Simeon S. Amurao Jr. of the BAI earlier told the BusinessMirror that the government will impose an immediate temporary blanket importation ban on trade partners that would confirm an ASF outbreak.
Amurao cautioned, however, that the temporary import ban on pig products could cause global pork prices to shoot up.
“We are closely monitoring the spread of the ASF in China, as well as in Europe,” Amurao said in an interview.
“In fact, we are paying close attention to Germany because its neighboring countries have already reported an ASF outbreak. If Germany gets hit by ASF, then we have to ban them even if it is one of our biggest sources of pork imports,” Amurao added.
If ASF hits Germany, Amurao warned that the price of pork from United States and Canada—two of the top pork-exporting countries—could increase.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes