DA-7 assures no Ebola here

CEBU, Philippines – The Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture-7 assured that strict monitoring and confiscation of illegally shipped pork from outside Cebu is being done to protect consumers from any possible contamination especially with the outbreak of the Ebola Reston infection among hogs in Luzon.

DA-7 executive director Ricardo Oblena said that Region 7 is safe from the Ebola Reston virus that was first detected in hog farms in Pangasinan and Bulacan some months ago.

Oblena also confirmed that Region-7 is not importing hogs or pork from Luzon, in fact Luzon imports from Visayas and Mindanao which have been declared free from the Ebola Reston virus.

The public must not be threatened and may be assured that the pork they buy in the market is safe from Ebola, Oblena said. The virus has already been contained with the burning of hogs discovered positive of the virus.

BAI Veterinary Quarantine Service chief Arnie Delas Marias said that they are closely monitoring the flow of shipment of hogs in airports and seaports.

Delas Marias said that the quarantine service averagely confiscates 500 kilograms of pork shipped without valid transport documents and they assume these meats have not passed the laboratory standard requirement of DA.

The confiscated meat is not transported beyond the perimeter of the ports to avoid the spread of any virus or diseases it carries said Delas Marias. Meats are immediately burned and dispatched.

The National Meat Inspection Services also assured that there has not been any report of infection among hogs being monitored daily in slaughterhouses in the region.

NMIS regional director Romeo Capa said that their inspectors regularly conduct anti-mortem and post-mortem inspection of hogs to be slaughtered and brought to the local and international market.

Capa told the public that if they want to be assured that the meat they buy is safe from any virus and diseases, they must look for the meat inspection certification from the vendors. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP (THE FREEMAN)