P600K meat products from China seized in Subic port

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Meat products worth about P600,000 were seized by port authorities here after discovering these were shipped from Guangzhou in China, which is affected by the dreaded African swine fever (ASF).

Lawyer Wilma Eisma, chair and administrator of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), on Tuesday said the meat shipment was immediately inspected by a quarantine officer from the Department of Agriculture before these were confiscated by the Bureau of Customs.

She said the seized meat would be destroyed as recommended by the Bureau of Quarantine Services.

Jerome Martinez, manager of the SBMA Seaport Department, said the Chinese meat products arrived here in a refrigerated van aboard MV Hansa Altenburg, a container vessel that arrived in Subic on May 27.

Martinez said the container van was declared to contain 2,385 packages of “food items” consigned to a trading firm in Makati City.

He said the seized meat would be injected with chemicals before these are buried underground.

The World Organization for Animal health has declared ASF to be a highly-contagious hemorrhagic viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. (Editor: Leti Boniol)