P1.6 M worth of undocumented meat products seized in Tacloban

TACLOBAN CITY — About P1.6 million worth of frozen meat products from Bulacan were seized by the Tacloban City government in a checkpoint on Friday.

Dr. Eunice Alcantara, the city’s veterinarian officer, said the driver of the delivery van owned by Marby Food Ventures failed to present the necessary documents to transport meat products to the region.

“That is why we confiscated the products,” Alcantara said in a media interview.

Among the documents the driver failed to present were the license to operate from the Food and Drug Administration, certificate of product registration, shipping permit, and veterinary health certificate.

Alcantara said all that the driver showed was a copy of the delivery receipt which revealed that the products were from Bulacan.

The frozen meat products were to be delivered to the different establishments in the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban as well as to some areas in Mindanao.

The confiscated products were buried at the city’s sanitary landfill located in Barangay San Roque.

Last September 27, 2019, Mayor Alfred Romualdez issued Executive Order No. 19-09-6 which banned the entry of meat products from Luzon and other areas where there are cases of African Swine Fever (ASF).

Tacloban and the rest of Eastern Visayas remain to be free of ASF.

ASF is a severe viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. The highly contagious hemorrhagic viral disease is usually deadly and there are neither vaccines nor cures for it yet.

It is not a risk to human health but has the capacity to destroy livestock production and lead to economic losses. /je