The United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA) urged government to step up efforts to stop the illegal entry of meat from China and other countries.
UBRA said smuggling cannot be eradicated by merely issuing repeated appeals to traders not to engage in this illegal activity but by tougher actions like inspection at borders.
“It is not only strange but (issuing appeals) further emboldens those who are already breaking the law to do it some more. In the first place, if the country really has a high level of quarantine measures, then it is not necessary to make any appeal,” said
Elias Jose Inciong and Gregorio San Diego, UBRA president and chairman, respectively, in a letter to Secretary William Dar of the Department Agriculture (DA).
The DA has banned the entry of meats from several countries including China in a bid to stop the further spread of African swine fever in the country.
The leaders of the country’s poultry industry said the Philippines can only stop the entry of animal diseases if it adopts a trade data system that will address unfair trade and smuggling and puts in place proper facilities in customs borders especially cold chain quarantine facilities,
UBRA said the DA should look into the proliferation of imported mechanically- deboned meats that are supposedly for the exclusive use of food processors being sold in public markets as well as of meat products from China being sold in online portals with unrealistic shelf life of as long as two years.
“For whole chickens that were blast frozen directly from the line and with no break in the cold chain, the maximum shelf life until consumption is 12 months. If the chickens were cut into pieces, the shelf life is reduced to six months due to additional handling at above freezing temperature during cutting,” UBRA said.
The group also followed up on the status of a smuggling incident cracked open by the Manila city government that happened earlier this year.