MANILA — Four more countries were added to the list of nations temporarily banned from exporting pork products to the Philippines given suspected cases of the African swine fever (ASF).
The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) added Hong Kong, North Korea, Laos, and Germany to the list of countries whose pork products were banned, according to a Sunday report.
Last June, the FDA banned pork importations from Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Moldova, South Africa, Vietnam, and Zambia.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA), through a memorandum order last September, banned the importation of pork from ASF-hit countries China, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine.
For its part, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it was closely monitoring the country’s borders to prevent the entry of banned meat products.
Local meat processors have also assured the public that products made in the country were safe for human consumption as they did not contain materials from countries infected by the ASF. (GMA News)
