‘ILLEGAL PORK.’ An employee of the General Santos City Veterinary Office inspects pork meat products weighing more than 10 kg. found inside a passenger van that passed by the city’s entry checkpoint in Barangay Apopong before noon Friday (July 24, 2020). Veterinary personnel also intercepted at about 8 a.m. some 93 kg. of processed pork meat products from the Davao region at a checkpoint in Barangay Tinagacan. (PNA photo by Richelyn Gubalani)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Veterinary personnel destroyed more than 100 kg. of processed pork meat products from the Davao region and other unauthorized sources that were seized in separate checkpoints here Friday.
Dr. Rex Calub, meat inspection division chief of the City Veterinary Office, said the meat products were found aboard two vehicles that were stopped for inspection at the entry checkpoints in barangays Tinagacan and Apopong.
Calub said these were immediately burned to prevent the possible spread of African swine fever (ASF) and other animal diseases.
He said the bulk of the prohibited products was recovered at about 8 a.m. from a private vehicle that passed by the Army-led Joint Task Force GenSan’s security outpost along the national highway in Barangay Tinagacan.
Calub said a civilian volunteer assigned at the outpost found two styrofoam boxes containing 28 packs of chorizo and 32 packs of tocino weighing a combined 93 kg.
The two women aboard the vehicle, whose identities were withheld pending investigation, admitted owning the meat products but claimed these were not for sale, he said.
“But there’s a possibility that these were intended for online orders of consumers based in the city so we’re looking into that,” Calub told reporters, adding that they were still establishing the exact origin and supplier of the pork products, which could have come from areas in the Davao region that were affected by ASF outbreaks early this year.
Meanwhile, another box of processed pork products, initially estimated at more than 10 kg., was seized aboard a passenger van at the entry checkpoint in Barangay Apopong.
The products, composed of 43 packs of chorizo, were reportedly sourced from Tupi town in South Cotabato and will be delivered to a consignee based in the city.
Calub said they confiscated the meat products after its courier failed to present documents showing that these had passed the authorized slaughterhouses.
“As of today, the entry of pork meat products from areas affected by ASF outbreaks and those from unauthorized sources are still prohibited,” he said, noting that the city, which is among the country’s top suppliers of live hogs and pork meat, remains free from ASF and control measures are in place to maintain such status. (PNA)
