November 18, 2010

Philippine veterinarian raises concerns about imported meat

The continued entry of imported pork cuts into the Philippine market causes undue competition with local suppliers and also raises food safety concerns, according to Cebu City veterinarian Alice Utlang.

Utlang said she was worried about consumers' safety since it is not known whether these imported meat products underwent sanitary and health inspections.

She said imported pork cuts from Canada and Brazil are much cheaper than local meat. A kilo of imported "maskara" (pig face's skin) is sold at PHP130 (US$2.97) per kilo at Carbon market while the imported counterpart only costs PHP90-PHP100 (US$2.06-US$2.29).

Utlang said distribution of the imported pork cuts hurts the city slaughterhouse.

With the holidays approaching, the abattoir can handle 300 pigs daily but the number went down to 200 in the last few days.

She said she was alarmed to get a report that imported meat slaughtered as far back as 2008 was still sold at the Carbon market based on the figure "2008" marked on the product's box.

Utlang said she sent some Cebu City Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries personnel to check on the report but failed to locate the marked meat.

Maria Pino, head of the Cebu City United Vendors Association (CCVA), said reports of the proliferation of imported cuts in Carbon market remains unsubstantiated.

Imported meat is cut the same way as local meat, packaged in a box, and frozen but is paler compared to local products, according to Pino.

She said that since this meat would need big freezers or chillers, she doubts that a member of the CCVA is engaged in the trade. "Our members are small businessmen. They slaughter their pigs themselves since they do not own chillers," Pino said.