May 22, 2009

The Philippine Department of Agriculture secretary Arthur C. Yap has rejected an appeal by some hog raisers to re-impose the import ban on pork products.

 

Yap pointed out that the so-called "swine flu" has been proven by science as a human-to-human transmission and has not been transmitted by infected pigs.

 

He said hog raisers calling for a re-imposition of the temporary pork import ban, are posing a dangerous argument since there is clear proof in Japan that while there is some human infection of the AH1NI flu virus, there are no Japanese hog farms affected by swine flu.

 

Hog farmers under the umbrella of the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. (NFHFI) had earlier expressed their support for Yap's decision to lift the temporary import ban on pork products from some affected AH1NI flu countries as they agree with the argument that the infection is not coming from hogs.

 

But the NFHFI said there is a need to curb the smuggling of some pork products which directly compete with the local pork industry.

 

Yap, pointed out that pork imports comprises less than 10 percent of domestic consumption, with the bulk going to local meat processors for luncheon meat and processed meat products like "tocino" or sugar-cured pork.

 

Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) director Davinio Catbagan said pork imports from 2004 to 2007 ranged from 3.9 percent to five percent of total pork supply.

 

In 2007, Catbagan said, total pork supply was 1.588 billion kilogrammes, increasing slightly to 1.593 billion kilogrammes in 2008.