BACOLOD CITY – The African Swine Fever (ASF) Task Force in Negros Occidental has intercepted P165,025 worth of pork and pork products from Oct. 15 to 19.
Dr. Placeda Lemana, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO), reported that 666.5 kilograms of pork and pork products from Iloilo, Manila, and Cebu, were seized in five days.
Through the intensified measures of the provincial government against ASF, the pork products were intercepted at the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. (Bredco) port here, Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, and the seaports in San Carlos City and Escalante City, according to Lamena.
Last week, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson banned all pigs and pork products from Panay and Guimaras Islands, following a reported case of ASF in the municipality of Oton in Iloilo, to protect the province’s P6-billion hog industry.
The city government and the provincial government of Negros Occidental issued a joint executive order last week creating a joint ASF task force to prevent the entry or the bringing into for whatever purpose or the trading of any live pig, boar semen, pork, and pork products, including food items containing pork originating from, manufactured, and processed in places affected by ASF.
The EO stated that to further protect the swine industry in the province and this city, it is imperative and urgent need to pass a joint EO to harmonize its policies in prohibiting the entry of sources of infection from places affected by ASF.
Lamena assured that the swine industry in the province is still ASF-free.