Philippine meat processors confident swine flu will not affect industry

Despite the current scare from the swine flu outbreak in the US, a group of meat processors in the Philippines expressed confidence on Monday (Apr 27) that they will be unaffected by this.

 

Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) spokesman Francisco Buencamino said the group is no longer importing meat from the US, but source theirs in nearby countries such as South Korea.

 

PAMPI counts 32 meat-processing companies as members, with a combined annual revenues of PHP60 billion.

 

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has banned the import of pork from the US and Mexico following the outbreak of swine flu which killed at least 152 in Mexico.

 

Manila has maintained that the country has not had an outbreak of swine fever in the past and as of the current time.

 

The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said there were few cases of swine fever in 2007 coupled with cases of hog cholera and porcine fever.

 

Still, BAI urged hog farmers to include swine flu vaccination in the immunisation programmes to dispel the threat of local infection.

 

Meanwhile, Buencamino said the group will be maintaining their current prices of canned and processed meats, despite the higher cost of raw materials.

 

But he said expenses of meat processors had become bigger owing to extra costs that they shoulder to keep meat products affordable.