‘Processed, frozen meat from abroad may carry swine fever’

MANILA, Philippines — Processed and frozen meat products carried by balikbayans or returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and foreign tourists, even pork dumplings traded by Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen in the West Philippine Sea for local meals and cigarettes, may carry the deadly African swine fever (ASF) virus, officials from the Department of Agriculture (DA) warned yesterday.

The officials told the Senate committee on agriculture and food that measures have been put in place to prevent the possible entry of the ASF to protect the country’s P191-billion swine industry.

Ronnie Domingo, director of the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry, warned that the protective measures are most effective in the commercial importation of pork and that the porous areas where the ASF virus may slip through are those in the items carried by visitors and balikbayans.

“In the traditional importation of meat or bulk imports, we don’t see any problem with that. But in the case, for example, of our countrymen who bring meat products from ASF-infected country, that’s where the risk is present,” Domingo said in Filipino.

Once a pig or susceptible livestock is infected, death is certain, which is why shielding the country from the virus is paramount, according to Domingo.

There are an estimated 12 million live hogs in the country. The industry employs over a million workers, officials said. – Louise Maureen Simeon