March 6, 2009
Philippines seizes unapproved meat in Luzon market
Philippine National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) seized more than 700 kilogrammes of double-dead meat and another 100 kilogrammes of illegally sold buffalo meat at the Balintawak markets in Quezon City, Luzon on Thursday (Mar 5).
Head of the NMIS Accreditation, Regulation and Enforcement Division Fernando Lontoc said that 728 kilogrammes of double-dead pork and 100 kilogrammess of buffalo meat were confiscated from the MC Market and Dante's Gahudo Market in Balintawak.
Lontoc said that these meat products were seized from stalls along sidewalks between the two markets, some of those confiscated were found hidden underneath stalls inside the markets themselves.
He said that the double-dead pork was brought to the Crocodile Farm in Pasay to be fed to crocodiles there while the buffalo meat will be donated to charitable institutions.
He explained that though the buffalo meat, which was imported from India, was good for consumption, it is not allowed to be sold in the market and can only be used exclusively by meat processing plants.
