December 10, 2010

 

Philippine provincial execs guarantee Bulacan pork's safety

 

 

Bulacan officials are declaring that pork from the province is safe on reports that "botcha" ("double-dead" or contaminated) meat was proliferating in public markets in Metro Manila.

 

"We are wondering why the issue of 'botcha' has been revived every time the Christmas season approaches. This is a direct attack on the hog industry in Bulacan and a syndicate, probably wanting to promote imported frozen meat, could be behind this," said Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado.

 

Records from the Bureau of Animal Industry show that 60% of Metro Manila's demand for pork is supplied by hog raisers and commercial farms in the towns of Sta. Maria, Pandi, San Ildefonso, Guiguinto, Baliuag, San Miguel, and San Jose del Monte City.

 

Charles Ong, vice president of the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. and who operates a hog farm in Guiguinto, said their sales dropped by at least 20% following reports of seizure of shipments of botcha in Metro Manila.

 

Ong said only between 1 and 3% of the close to a million hogs in more than 200 commercial farms in Bulacan die of sickness, the most common of which is flu due to changes in temperature.

 

He said farm owners have ensured that the dead animals do not leave the farms' premises and would not be butchered so these could not be sold in public markets.

 

Ong said dead animals are burned and buried inside the farms. Some of the meat is boiled and fed to dogs.

 

Alvarado said the recent confiscation of "double dead" meat in some towns in Bulacan proved that the government was serious in ensuring the safety of consumers.

 

"These are isolated cases and our police are continuously manning checkpoints to arrest unscrupulous people who want to destroy Bulacan's hog industry," he said.

 

Last month, the Pandi police arrested a resident who used double dead meat in making "lechon" (roast pig).

 

More recently, policemen from the San Jose del Monte and Central Luzon police seized suspected "double dead" meat at a checkpoint they put up at the boundary of San Jose del Monte City and Sta. Maria.

 

Police said they believed the shipment of hot meat was to be taken to the Balintawak market in Quezon City.