Meat, poultry farms inspected

BACOLOD CITY – The Provincial Veterinary Office has inspected about 20 percent of the commercial farms in Negros Occidental in an effort to strengthen their biosecurity measures.

Provincial veterinarian, Dr. Renante Decena, said Tuesday the inspection will be the basis for renewing the farms’ permits.

Decena said earlier the inspection was prompted by complaints about the increasing number of flies coming from some of the farms infesting nearby residential areas and airports.

There are 168 farms in the province with eight farm integrators that have at least 2,000 poultry heads.

Biosecurity refers to the farm standards on hygiene and sanitary practices in the commercial facilities that produce meat and poultry, he also said.

Apart from strengthening biosecurity measures, the veterinary office also plans to integrate the poultry profile of the farms in the whole province, Decena said.

The inspections are done simultaneously and are taking time because some of the farms are in the far north and south of the province, he said.

Decena said he wants to ensure that the communities near the farms are safe from any type of pollution.

Within this month, the veterinary office will speed up inspections so it could assess the overall situation of the farms and come up with technical assistance in treating diseases that could infect poultry.