10 tons of moldy meat seized in Pasay

Officials of the Pasay City Veterinary Office seized at least 10 tons of “hot meat” while it was being unloaded from a 20-foot container van along F. Sanchez street shortly after midnight Wednesday.

City Veterinarian Dr. Ronaldo Bernasor said his team was conducting a routine inspection of the area around 1:30 a.m. when they stumbled upon a van, loaded with tons of spoiled meat, parked near the Park Avenue Mansion.

“The meat will reportedly be processed as ham to be sold to the public for consumption for the holiday season. However, the meat, which originated from Davao, already had a bad smell,” Bernasor said, adding that the seized meat did not bear a seal of approval by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).

Bernasor’s group brought the meat – worth P200,000 to the Pasay City Hall, where they met with NMIS officials who will examine the seized items. Operatives said they are set to burn the confiscated meat, which they suspect could have been smuggled from China.

Businesswoman Susan Co, who claimed to be the owner of the meat shipment, said the meat smelled bad because it had not yet been processed. She said that the meat could still be sold if the mold is washed off and the meat sliced and cooked.

Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad ordered Bernasor and Senior Inspector Carlos Ogalinola of the City Hall police detachment to coordinate with the NMIS to check if Co complied with the law.

The NMIS said even if the mold is removed, the toxins produced by the mold would still be in the meat, rendering it unsafe for human consumption. According to reports, the meat shipment was not only full of mold, but was infested with worms as well.

The Pasay City government ordered nightly market inspections after officials intercepted contaminated meat at a number of public markets last month.