5 M kilos of meat rotting at Manila port, group warns

MANILA, Philippines - Five million kilos of expired frozen meat, in over 203 shipping containers, are being held by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) at a port in Manila, a group said yesterday.

Rosendo So, who heads the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, said 69 of the containers are consigned to JCore Enterprises; 25 containers to Lucky Meat Trading; and 12 containers to Lean Pasture Trading.

The containers have yet to be processed since arriving in January from various countries, such as the United States, Canada, Belgium and other European countries, he said.

So said some of the frozen meat products were expired by the time they arrived in the country while others are not covered by the proper permits so they could not be released by the BOC.

He warned that some of the expired frozen meat had been smuggled out of the port and reached markets in the provinces. Some of the meat were confiscated in public markets in Ilocos and Pangasinan, So added.