DA to meet with US military officer over food imports

MANILA, Philippines - Officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) will meet with United States military officials on Jan. 16 to come up with a protocol for the importation of food provisions of American troops in the country the DA withheld several containers of US food imports that entered the country in late November.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said the shipments contained meat, poultry, fish and other foodstuff that had certification from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) that the foodstuff are safe for human consumption.

Alcala said that pending the conduct of the talks that would be held with Philippine Agriculture officials the US military food shipments would be held.

Some 300 kilos of highly perishable goods have been pulled out from the shipment.

National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) director Minda Manantan said Commander James Bridges of the US Logistics Agency in the Pacific region would meet with Agriculture officials and respresentative of regulatory agencies.

Manantan explained that the third party contractor used by the US military is not accredited by the NMIS.  Therefore, it should be determined if the prevailing rules applied to regular importers should be applied to a third party contractor used by the US military for the shipment of food provisions for US troops in the country.

The arrival of the food shipments raised concerns among hog ang poultry raisers that the shipment may be contaminated and pose danger to local products. 

Alcala said that the shipments are only intended for use of US troops and would  not be released to the local market.