Philippine hog industry losing $20 million monthly to ASF

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine hog industry is losing nearly $20 million a month from African swine fever (ASF) infections, agricultural officials said yesterday, after announcing the virus has also been detected in some processed pork products.

The highly contagious pig disease is quickly spreading in the Philippines, the world’s 10th largest pork consumer, pushing up prices of other meat products such as chicken.

Though not harmful to humans, the disease is deadly to pigs, with no vaccine available.

President Duterte’s office issued a statement late on Thursday seeking a concerted government effort to manage, contain and control the disease that is also wreaking havoc on hog industries in China and other Asian countries.

At a separate media briefing, Philippine central bank officials warned of an upside risk to inflation in 2020 amid the swine fever scare.

In the Philippines, also the world’s seventh biggest pork importer, the virus has hit some backyard farms in Quezon City and in several Luzon provinces.

“There are opportunity losses for the hog industry estimated at about P1 billion ($19.5 million) a month,” said Noel Reyes, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The government reported the country’s first outbreak in September. More than 60,000 pigs have since either died because of the disease or been culled. That is less than one percent of the country’s herd estimated at 12.7 million pigs as of July.

Packets of processed pork items confiscated recently from a local traveler, mostly home-made but also including some branded products, tested positive for the virus, the DA said in a statement.

The tainted products include hotdogs, sausages and cured meat, local media reported.

“We strongly appeal to small backyard hog raisers not to sell their ASF-infected pigs to traders, and for traders not to sell infected hogs and pork and processed products so as not to spread the ASF virus to other areas,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.

The DA is looking at the possibility of cross contamination among the confiscated processed meat products which tested positive for ASF.?Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan said further laboratory tests would have to be conducted before recommending a recall of such products in various supermarkets.

“We have to look at it because all the confiscated products were placed in one container. There might have been cross contamination,” Cayanan said at a briefing on Friday.

“Secretary Dar already instructed to conduct further investigation so we will test again and this time we will get accurate samples,” he added.

The DA has decided not to name the brand but it is an open secret that products of Pampanga-based Mekeni Food Corp. were among those confiscated.

The DA said it is already in coordination with the Department of Health-Food and Drug Administration (DOH-FDA), which is the proper authority to decide on whether such products will be recalled or not.

The DA has yet to recommend any action as the investigation is still ongoing. The new test would take approximately 48 hours.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan asked the DA, as well as the Department of Trade and Industry, on Thursday to identify processed meat brands that reportedly tested positive for ASF, and immediately remove them from the market.

“This will allay fears of the public on the spread of these products and on the possibility of consumption,” said Pangilinan, the former presidential assistant on food security and agricultural modernization.

Meat processors respond

Meanwhile, Mekeni president and CEO Prudencio Garcia said that as an ISO-certified company, the firm has for years strictly adhered to the highest food safety and quality standards.

“We fully comply with government regulations to ensure that our process and products are within the required standards. All our raw meats are strictly inspected by the NMIS (National Meat Inspection Service) and have all the required certification from regulatory bodies,” he added.

Garcia maintained that it is impossible that they are the carrier of the virus. He said that as of yesterday, his company has not received any official report and “validated statement” from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), even as he assured the public that “we will inform you of any developments, as you deserve to know the truth.”

Likewise, diversified food company Purefoods-Hormel Co. Inc., a joint venture between San Miguel-Purefoods and Hormel, has assured the public that its products are safe for consumption.?In a statement, Purefoods said its products are produced in company-controlled facilities and processing plants that have passed all stringent requirements of the BAI, NMIS and FDA.?“The pork ingredients in Purefoods products come from farms that are strictly supervised by San Miguel Foods and observe the highest level of bio-security measures, while the imported materials come from ASF-free countries,” it said.

Appeal vs pork ban

The spokesperson for the Task Force on ASF in Pangasinan is appealing to local government units (LGUs) in nearby provinces not to impose a total ban on pork and pork products that come from the province as only two towns have been hit by the virus.

Geraldine Baniqued, the provincial legal officer, said, “We want to clarify that not the entire Pangasinan has ASF cases.” 

First was Mapandan town but results of the blood test on hogs within the seven-kilometer radius showed they were negative for ASF, she said.

The second was Bayambang town, where about 360 hogs were culled the other day.

“So the other LGUs should not make a generalization because the rest of the towns and cities in Pangasinan are ASF-free,” Baniqued said.

She said they know these LGUs are only protecting their town or city “but we also have to give them (hog growers and traders) the chance for their livelihood.”

Meanwhile, President Duterte has ordered all concerned agencies to address the ASF issue in the run-up to the Yuletide season.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued the orders to all agencies as well as government financial institutions to map out livelihood training and strategies to address the ASF problem.

“The Office of the President, through the initiative of the executive secretary, is hereby directing all executive departments, bureaus, agencies, government-owned and controlled corporations, government financial institutions and other instrumentalities of the government to coordinate, as well as to adopt policies and institute measures, to manage, contain and control the transmission of African swine fever in the country,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement late Thursday evening.