March 4, 2020

Cebu to quarantine hog feed materials from Mindanao

As a preventive measure and to maintain its status as free of African swine fever (ASF), the provincial government of Cebu in central Philippines will be subjecting raw materials needed to produce hog feeds sourced from Mindanao to a 20-day quarantine starting on March 8.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia issued an executive order that requires raw materials including corn from Mindanao to undergo a 20-day quarantine before they can be mixed and used for the production of feeds.

Garcia explained that the quarantine period would allow millers to have time to prepare biosecurity measures needed to screen hog-related products from Mindanao, Cebu Daily News reported.

The governor recently met with representatives from local feed millers in the province and stressed the need to quarantine raw materials from Mindanao, since Cebu's feed millers mainly source their raw materials from that region.

Garcia said local feed suppliers in Cebu produce around 1.2 million bags of feeds per month.

While international standards require only 10 days of quarantine, taking into account the days it takes to transport the materials, Garcia said they decided to extend the period to 20 days due to the short distance between Cebu and Mindanao.

Earlier, Cebu imposed a 90-day ban on live hogs and pork products from Mindanao starting last Feb. 13. It also bans pork from Eastern Visayas and Luzon.

The Philippines' first ASF outbreaks were reported in Rizal, Bulacan and Pampanga provinces in Luzon. Later the disease spread to Metro Manila, Pangasinan and other provinces in Luzon.