Pork from swine fever-hit Belgium shipped to PH

Despite an order from the Department of Agriculture (DA) banning the entry of pork and pork products from countries affected by African swine fever (ASF), an industry group said more than a million kilograms of pork meat from Belgium still managed to enter the country.

Belgium is one of the 13 countries from which pork products are banned by the DA for having unresolved cases of ASF.

Ban pork imports

This development has prompted stakeholders to appeal to the DA to ban the importation of pork products even from countries near ASF-infected countries to ensure the safety of the local hog industry.

Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) chair Rosendo So cited data from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) showing that over 1.4 million kilos of pork meat from Belgium entered the country between October and November last year.

Around 79,120 kilograms of pork were shipped to the Philippines in October, while around 1.021 million kilos of pork arrived in November.

The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), a DA-attached agency, imposed the ban as early as September when outbreaks of ASF were reported in parts of Europe and Asia.

BAI Director Ronnie Domingo confirmed the report but clarified that these pork shipments were commissioned before the ban and were already in transit by then.

Threat to livestock industry

DA and BOC personnel deployed at the country’s entry points, including ports and airports, were now on full alert and had tightened security to prevent the entry of pork products from affected countries.

Sinag, as well as the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHF), are worried that the entry of ASF into the country might cripple the livestock industry.

The entry of ASF will not only threaten the P200-billion livestock industry but will also jeopardize the ongoing negotiations of the Philippines with Singapore on the exportation of pork, said Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

NFHF president Chester Warren Tan said his group wanted to ban the importation of pork products from “high-risk” areas or those near ASF-infected countries, “but they told us that they cannot do that unless an outbreak is reported.”

Pork and pork products from China, Hungary, Belgium, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova, South Africa, Zambia, and Russia are currently banned from entering the country.