Beware of ‘botcha’ with start of ‘Ber’ months

Expect an influx of botcha (meat taken from long-dead animals) with the start of the “Ber” months leading up to Christmastime.

Inspectors warned buyers that unscrupulous traders would take advantage of the increased demand to dispose of their stocks of botcha or expired frozen meat.

“Because more people will buy meat and prefer [those being sold at low prices, these traders [may resort to selling botcha],” said Christian Espiritu, meat inspector of the Manila Special Meat Squad (SMS).

At dawn Thursday, the SMS confiscated 50 kilos of botcha on top of 200 kilos of expired imported frozen meat at Ilaya Market, the third time it made such a seizure at a market in Manila since the start of the month.

The operation was conducted based on information that a certain Belen was selling botcha in the area. However, the people manning the stall where the meat was being sold managed to escape during the raid. Erika Sauler