ILOILO City – Several meat vendors at the Iloilo Terminal Market violating sanitary standards were apprehended recently.
The violations included the following:
* dirty display area
* improper cover where the meat were laid
* improper lighting
* improper hook used to display the meat
Vendors must use light that does not emit other color aside from white “because the buyer might be confused with the actual appearance of the meat,” said Jose Ariel Castañeda, Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) chief of the city government.
He told vendors that violations were “unhealthy” to their business and they must comply with the basic guidelines and meat safety standards.
Consumers were likewise reminded to ask for a meat inspection certificate from vendors to ensure that what they purchase is safe for consumption.
This will also encourage meat vendors to comply with standards, said Castañeda.
Also recently, around 40 kilograms of hot meat was confiscated by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) at the Iloilo Terminal Market.
The inspection was conducted to ensure that meat sold at the market were safe for consumption, said Castañeda.
“The veterinarian saw that the meat being sold were already spoiled,” thus unsafe for human consumption, Castañeda saidw.
The vendors also failed to pinpoint the source of the hot meat as the products were from different sources and were mixed while being stored in the freezer.
Vendors whose meat had been confiscated could still continue their business but Castañeda said they could be fined if caught committing the same violation anew. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
