January 4, 2011
Philippine pork producers mull construction of MBM plants
Philippine pork producers are exploring the possibility establishing rendering plants that can produce meat and bone meal (MBM), an ingredient used in manufacturing animal feeds.
Edwin Chen, president of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. (PPFPI), said they are keen on working with the government to draft a comprehensive plan that will address the MBM requirements of the local feed industry.
Chen said they are already on the planning stage for the establishment of rendering plants as the swine sector requires massive logistics to implement their plan of MBM plants.
He said PPFPI is looking at a time-frame of four to five years for the construction of the first rendering plant.
Rendering plants are facilities where the carcasses of dead animals and other waste from slaughterhouses are recycled.
MBM is a byproduct of the rendering of animal carcasses and animal waste material from abattoirs. The product is sold as high-protein meal additive or animal stock-feed and pet food.
PPFPI noted that in other countries, rendering plants buy dead animals to produce MBM. This, said Chen, is not practiced in the Philippines.
For hog rations, the federation will also formulate a poultry-based MBM as well as for poultryfeed.
Chen said this is to prevent diseases from spreading and mutating as the practice of feeding porcine MBM to hogs or swine can be categorized as cannibalism. The case of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) or mad cow disease, where cows eat their own kind via bovine MBM is a classic example, adds Chen.
Meanwhile, the federation will also try to enforce a multi-site system in raising hogs. The multi-site system will have separate locations for breeding, nurseries, and grow-out stages.
Chen said they are discussing with raisers on producing piglets for backyard farmers and finishers for commercial producers.
He added that the system will be self-sustaining for designated pork zones in the three major islands of the country.
It will also help keep tabs on parasites and viral infections that afflict hogs through the all-in, all-out system.
According to Chen, this means that pigs will be grown all at the same time and sell them all at the same time.
So there will come a time that the building will be left with no occupants. There's no host, so the parasites will die a natural death, leaving the structure clean and fit for the next season, he explained.
Earlier, hog raisers raised alarm over the proliferation of imported frozen and botcha or ''double-dead" meat in the wet markets.
Hog raisers alleged that frozen meat are being sold as fresh meat in wet markets and can be easily mistaken for botcha.
While there is no available official data on the volume of MBM imports, Chen noted that the price of imported MBM range between US$350 to US$400 per tonne. The Philippines usually imports MBM from North American countries such as the United States and Canada, and from the European Union.
In 2009 the Philippines lifted an eight-year ban on MBM from the US after the government ascertained that the product no longer poses significant risk of BSE.
Last year Manila also lifted a seven-year ban on MBM produced in Canada after the government determined that the risk of importing the product is already minimal.
