CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The food supplier of a Korean shipbuilder’s subcontractor again served rotten pork with maggots in free lunches to some 300 workers at the firm’s assembly and painting departments in Subic, Zambales, a group of workers reported on Sunday.

First observed in April 2007 and noticed in four incidents thereafter, the problem recurred on March 19, the workers said.

“The [maggots] were squirming from the fatty portion of the pork, which was cooked adobo style. It was packed in a Styrofoam box together with rice,” said one of the workers, who asked not to be named for fear of losing his job.

The worms were as big as rice grains, said the worker who is assigned to the assembly department of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Ltd. (HHIC) shipyard off the Redondo Bay.

He and his co-workers took photographs and video footage of the maggot-laced pork with their mobile phones to be submitted as proofs to the Filipino subcontractor, K 2 Tech.

In a statement e-mailed from London on Sunday, Pyeong Jong Yu, HHIC-Philippines general manager, confirmed that the subcontractor’s food supplier, Hacor, served food laced with maggots to workers.

“Unfortunately, it is true that there was one case (lunch on March 19) that maggots were found in the food served in PDC (production center), where Hacor has been supplying food through delivery trucks equipped with freezer containers,” Pyeong said.

“The Philippine [catering service attendants] assigned [to] delivering and serving food to PDC did not notice existence of the foreign objects in plastic baskets nor did clean them properly,” he said.

“Please [note] that plastic baskets have been used for putting the delivered food before serving, exposing them to normal atmosphere for some time before and during serving to workers,” he added.

The workers said Hacor employees told them that the worms grew in the pork because “flies landed on them.”

Refusing the excuse and worried for their health, the workers demanded that the food be replaced. The supplier agreed, giving them fish instead.

“This has happened several times and we have always been reporting the incidents. We haven’t been informed what actions K 2 Tech took, but apparently there was none because the problem has persisted until now,” said the worker.

Other complaints were half-cooked chicken or spoiled rice.

Pyeong said the incident was isolated, noting that the catering center, which has been preparing food both for Korean and Filipino workers, “is equipped with the most up to date equipment and facilities.”

Pyeong said Hacor has assured them that the incident would not be repeated.