Misamis Oriental gov bans entry of pigs, pork products from ASF-infected areas

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY –– The Misamis Oriental provincial government has banned the entry of pigs, various pork products and by-products from areas identified by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) as infected with African Swine Fever (ASF).

On Thursday, Sept. 12, Gov. Yevgeny Vicente Emano issued Executive Order 2019-13 creating a task force that would oversee the implementation of the ban.

The order was in reaction to the mass infection of hogs with ASF in  Rizal and Bulacan provinces.

Emano said this measure aimed to safeguard the province’s swine industry and would be lifted when BAI declares those areas free of ASF.

The pork products covered in the ban are raw, processed, and cooked.

Emano also ordered mayors in the province to urge backyard hog farmers to avoid feeding their livestock with food scraps and to report promptly unusual swine deaths and illnesses in their areas to the local agriculture or veterinary offices.

The Philippine Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA) in Northern Mindanao has earlier warned that small pig growers that feed food scraps to their pigs are the most vulnerable to the virus due to this unsanitary method.

Dr. Katherine Mae Caterial, president of the PVMA in the region, has said that disinfection and biosecurity measures should be adopted to avoid ASF from spreading further./lzb