BACOLOD City – Veterinary inspectors have started pulling out banned pork products from supermarkets and grocery stores in this city, with at least 76 kilos of assorted pork-based food items from Iloilo City seized and destroyed, data on Monday showed.
The operations are part of the mandate of the joint African Swine Fever (ASF) task force of the Negros Occidental province and the city to protect the multibillion local swine industry from ASF that has affected neighboring Iloilo province.
“The 76 kilos of assorted pork products that were pulled out from one of the grocery stores in Bacolod were set on fire last Nov. 18,” a report from the city government said.
The seized items were from a popular Ilonggo brand of processed pork products usually sold in groceries and supermarkets in the city.
Since Gov. Eugenio Lacson ordered the ban on the entry of all pigs, pork, pork products, and other related items from the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Capiz, Aklan, and Guimaras in mid-October, thousands worth of banned products have been seized and returned or destroyed after arrival in various ports of entry in Bacolod and in the province.
Last month, Lacson and Bacolod City mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez issued a consolidated executive order creating a joint taskforce against ASF to harmonize the policies of both the province and the city in prohibiting the entry of the sources of infection caused by the hog disease.
Negros Occidental also enforces a similar ban for Luzon, Mindanao, and Eastern Visayas, which have areas with confirmed ASF cases. (PNA)/PN
