August 19, 2020

Philippines meat processor unsettled by government's ban of poultry meat imports from Brazil

The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI), one of the largest groups of meat processing companies in the Philippines, has expressed concerns of a potential shortage of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken following the decision of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to temporarily suspend poultry meat imports from Brazil.

PAMPI has appealed to the DA to exclude MDM chicken from ban as reports said that Brazil has been  closing meat establishments due to rising COVID-19 infections among meat workers.

In addition, China recently claimed  it detected the virus from the surface of some frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil. However, the World Health Organization stated the absence of evidence for food-based transmission of the coronavirus.  

Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Director Ronnie Domingo assured that the Philippines will not have a shortage of poultry meat. He said the government will review the documents it asked from Brazilian meat producers to ensure that the products they are exporting to the Philippines are safe from COVID-19. A technical working group will decide on this matter, he added.

The Philippines ban has been criticised  by Ricardo Santin, CEO of Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA), as without basis and not based on science.

"It is a pity that the Philippines took this action," Santin said. "I hope they change their idea or we could ask for some reasonable explanation on WTO (World Trade Organization)."

The Philippines is currently one of the biggest markets for Brazilian poultry and pork meat.

During the first half of this year, the Philippines imported a total of 64.2 million kilos of all types of meat from Brazil. Of this amount, 43.27 million kilos are chicken meat.

 - Manila Bulletin