BAI not mandated to limit volume of meat imports - official

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said it is not mandated to restrict the volume of meat imports.

This was the clarification issued yesterday by beleaguered BAI director Efren Nuestro, whose ouster is being sought by local poultry and hog industry associations for his alleged inability to stem the increasing entry of imported meat products into the country which compete with locally-produced poultry and pork products.

In a talk with newsmen, Nuestro clarified that the BAI’s mandate is limited to ensuring that imported products coming into the country comply with the country’s sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) standards.

Thus, he explained that the issuance of veterinary quarantine clearance (VQCs) pertains to meeting the Philippines’ SPS standards.

“The BAI cannot restrict the volume of meat products because we (the Philippines) are committed to free trade,” Nuestro said.

Even complaints about the low tariff on offals, Nuestro explained, is not within the BAI’s mandate and belongs to the Tariff Commission.

At the same time, Nuestro also cited the inability of BAI quarantine officers to gain initial access to the imported meats which could possibly come from infected areas.

Under the present system, the Bureau of Customs gets to first examine imported containers vans and determine the required duties and taxes to be paid.

As such, Nuestro argued that BAI quarantine officers are not able to sometimes adequately check the safety of imported foods products before the BOC releases the container vans.

Once the imported meats are out in the market, Nuestro said any food safety concerns fall under the jurisdiction of the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).

“They are barking up the wrong tree,” Nuestro emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Northern Luzon Hog Farmers Multi Purpose Cooperative (NLHFMPC) criticized NMIS for its delayed confiscation of frozen meat being sold in local wet markets.

The Department of Agriculture’s Administrative Order 22 (AO 22) was signed on Dec. 10, 2010 but according to NLHFMPC, is only being implemented now.

NLHFMPC president Rosendo So said that the delayed implementation of AO 22 has been exploited by importers.

So also highlighted data which show that 65 percent of meat importation is composed of offal.

The tariff rate of five percent for offal, So said, is the reason for the large volume of offal importation and is exploited for technical smuggling.

Citing BAI data, So said that the country imported last year a total of 180 million kilograms of meat, of which 106 million was supposedly offal.

He said that under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) the tariff rate for pork bellies is 35 percent that forcing importers to declare their meat products as offal.