The National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday, April 14, came under fire from lady senators for not supervising the online market selling pork in the face of a deadly African swine fever (ASF) ravaging the hog industry.
Senators Imee Marcos and Cynthia Villar pointed out in the Senate Committee of the Whole hearing on food security issues that there is no clear system of supervising online services selling pork.
Marcos, chairwoman of the Senate economic affairs committee, impressed upon the need for NMIS tor the supervision of the online sector because it could become ASF spreaders.
The former Ilocos Norte governor chided NMIS for being lax on online sellers as it could not say how they could certify whether pork is ASF-free.
The prevalence of ASF since in August, 2019 has hit a substantial portion of Luzon.
Marcos said she has not seen a government agency taking down or stopping online selling of pork to check the spread of ASF.
She said NMIS should not rely on local government units (LGUs) and should coordinate with online selling platforms.
During hearing, NMIS Executive Director Jocelyn Salvador said NMIS inspects meat when they are at accredited slaughterhouses.
Salvador said NMIS has no control If meat products do not pass through accredited slaughterhouses.
She pointed out that local governments have the responsibility in determining the safety of meats and food products based on the Food Safety Act.
Villar, chairwoman of the Senate agriculture and food committee, was angry at the transfer by NMIS of its responsibility since it is its duty to look over the online selling so that ASF would not spread.
Salvador accepted the suggestions of Marcos and Villar that NMIS establishes links with online shopping platforms selling pork.