Using samples from markets study: Local meat has more bacteria

CEBU, Philippines - Several bacteria, including E. Coli, were found in the local meat sold at the Mandaue City Public Market and Carbon Public Market in Cebu City in a study commissioned by a meat trader.

Cebu City Veterinarian Alice Utlang, however, warned about the release of such study results as only the government is authorized to conduct a study and release its findings. This is done through the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), she said.

Utlang said that there is a “hidden agenda” in the conduct of such independent study.

According to the food technologists commissioned by a meat retailer, there were more bacteria found in local meat that do not conform with the standards compared to frozen or imported meat, which are now being confiscated by the Cebu City government for alleged bacteria contamination.

“We can only hope that the city government will be fair in implementing the Administrative Order 22. Dili kay ang frozen meat ra ang ilahang i-confiscate hasta sad unta nang local meat. Unfair gyud ang ilahang gibuhat,” said Mario Montes, a dealer of warm and frozen meat in a press conference yesterday.

Earlier, the Meat Importers and Traders Association strongly urged the Department of Agriculture to defer the implementation of Administrative Order No. 22 as there are serious deficiencies – missing links in the chain which cannot be put in place in so short a time.

“We can only conclude that AO22 is neither about Food Safety nor Consumer Welfare but is intended to keep imported frozen meat out of the wet markets. AO22 is about Protectionism. It is a Technical Barrier to Trade,” the group said through its president Jesus C. Cham in a letter addressed to DA Secretray Proceso Alcala.

DA’s AO No. 22 provides for the Rules and Regulations in the Handling of Frozen and Chilled Meat and Meat Products in the Meat Markets.

Based on Micro-Analysis Report dated January 19 in Mandaue City wet market, a half kilo of local meat was taken as a sample, an Aerobic Plate Count (APC) would show that the warm or local meat has “too numerous to count.”

The APC indicates the level of microorganisms in a product.

It was also found out in the same report the presence of coliform, E. Coli and Straphtlococcus Aureus.

The food technologists who conducted the report said that a food that is found to be contaminated with coliform and E. Coli is considered as unsanitary and not fit for human consumption.

Another Micro-Analysis Report at Carbon Market shows more or less the same result.

In the two reports, frozen meat samples passed all microbial count standards.

Montes said that since the city government started to confiscate frozen meat sold at Carbon market, his sales dropped from 30 boxes a day at 20 kilos each box to two boxes per day.

Meat Importers and Traders Association further stated in their letter that imported products are stored at the National Meat Inspection Section accredited and supervised Cold Stores. Then these are delivered to the wet market in boxes, the meat still wrapped in plastic film. The vendor then opens the box and brings out the meat to defrost.

The association stated that the implementation of this order has to be deferred in accordance with the true spirit and intent of RA 9296, an act strengthening the meat inspection system in the country, a “…risk analysis based on scientific methodology…” should be applied.

The group added that an audit should first be conducted to determine the deficiencies of the cold chain and then a new comprehensive order covering all meat, warm, chilled and frozen, local and imported, should be issued.

“Only in this manner can our consumers be protected and our meat industry prepare and fortify itself to compete in the global market,” the letter read.

The association added that they have questioned the rationale of this order and voiced their objections, particularly over the non-inclusion of local warm meat.

The group further said that only when the meat is taken out of the box for defrosting does it come into contact with the environment of the wet market. The meat will take considerable time (over several hours) for its initial sub-zero temperature to rise fully to match the ambient.

In this manner, the group said, the time of exposure to contaminants in the wet market is much less than the warm meat that is hung out beginning in the wee hours of the morning or laid out on wooden tables throughout the day.

Inexplicably, the group said NMIS forbids Cold Storage from using wooden pallets to load frozen boxed meat yet allows meat vendors to cut and chop meat on wooden tables / boards in the open air at the wet markets.

“We cannot fathom why DA/NMIS would subject frozen meat, which comprise less than 5% of the trade but is predominantly imported, to such stringent conditions and leave out the 95% local warm meat, which has a higher initial microbial load, is more exposed to external contamination, and is held at a temperature conducive to bacterial growth,” they said.

The local meat vendors as well as the 17 imported meat importers in Cebu have already bring this matter in court to stop the implementation of AO No. 22, which took effect last December 15.– with Ryan Christopher Sorote/NLQ (FREEMAN)