Cebu bans entry of pork meat, live hogs amid feared ASF

CEBU CITY –– The Cebu provincial government has banned the entry of pork meat products and live hogs into the island and other islands in its jurisdiction amid the suspected African Swine Fever (ASF) affecting parts of Luzon.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia explained that even those traveling and bringing pork meat for personal consumption would not be allowed into Cebu unless they could present documents from the National Meat Inspection Services or a Veterinary Health Certificate in the case of the live hog.

The “pork ban” or strict regulation of pork meat entry will be in effect for 100 days starting Friday, August 23.

“We are doing this so that what we are afraid will happen will not happen. The confirmatory tests (in Luzon) might take the next two weeks or three months, so we would not know (if it is ASF or not),” said Garcia.

“But we are hoping (that those are not ASF in Luzon) but the safest period as of the moment is 100 days (ban).”

The governor convened the Cebu Task Force on African Swine Fever Thursday night. Garcia said the “ban” or regulated entry of pork is aimed at protecting the P10.9 billion pork industry of Cebu province.

During the meeting, the governor also invited major grocery stores and supermarkets operating in Cebu to make sure their shelves are free of imported meat coming from countries affected by ASF.

Garcia’s task force took pictures of some frozen meat items from China in one of the supermarkets. The pork items have Chinese characters in the photos taken by members of the task force during its surveillance.

She warned all supermarkets to take these out of their shelves.

Garcia, however, allowed them to conduct a voluntary inventory and surrender these meat items from ASF-affected countries. The establishments have until Saturday to finish their inventories and surrender prohibited items.

Garcia asked the police and the Coast Guard to monitor the ports and access roads to and from the province.

Meat products will be confiscated while advisories will be announced from shipping lines and bus lines.

The airport will also be asked to monitor the entry of these prohibited items.

Cebu is the largest pork-producing province in Central Visayas and the 4th in the country with lechon as its showcased delicacy.

Provincial government data show that Cebu residents yearly consume 61.6 million kilos of pork. Tourists account for 1.8 million kilos mostly from Cebu lechon.

Cebu pork producers have an output of 99,898 metric tons of pork in 2018 which is valued as a P10,982,180,000./lzb