When it comes to meat, beware of what you buy, and eat.

And on the part of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) the best effort it could give is to run after those who compromise the safety of consumers for the sake of profit.

On Thursday night, NCRPO operatives seized around 20 tons of double dead meat in a raid on a trading facility in Barangay Tañong, Marikina.

NCRPO director Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Aberin said the operation also resulted in the arrest of 12 people, including the facility’s management, administrative staff, and security personnel.

“This is not a minor infraction; it is a direct assault on public health. The sheer volume of this seizure reflects a calculated risk taken by these individuals to profit at the expense of consumer safety,” said Aberin.

The operation stemmed from reports of trading of botcha, or meat from livestock who died of disease, in a warehouse located in a village in Marikina.

Armed with a search warrant, NCRPO operatives, accompanied by National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) officials, uncovered a massive cache of frozen products that were confirmed to be long past their expiration dates.

Aberin said the NMIS experts on-site declared the entire inventory unfit for human consumption.

“This operation prevented a potential massive outbreak of foodborne illness across Metro Manila. Ee are expanding our intelligence net to shut down these invisible threats,” said Aberin.

He said the arrested suspects are now facing charges of violation of the Safety Act of 2013 (RA 10611) and the Meat Inspection Code of the Philippines (RA 10536).

Authorities have been advising consumers to be wary in buying meat, saying that among the indications of double dead meat are pale, grayish and bluish-green tinted meat; with sticky and often frozen; with foul or spoiled smell; and often sold cheaply in plastic bags.