DA on high alert vs fatal swine disease

THE Department of Agriculture is closely watching food imported from countries hit by African Swine Fever (ASF) to prevent the entry of the fatal viral disease into the Philippines. “We have to institute stringent for Security and Public Health, measures to ensure that the ASF is a highly contagious disease. will not be able to enter the The ASF virus can survive in the country,” Agriculture Secretary environment and in uncooked pig Emmanuel Piñol told reporters in products for a long time. There is an interview after his meeting with no vaccine or treatment. livestock stakeholders regarding Piñol said the DA would ask the ASF outbreaks abroad. the assistance of the Bureau of

ASF, according to the Center Customs (BoC) for the mandatory inspection of food shipments that may enter the country.

The DA has banned the importation of live pigs and pork products from Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and China. The department also suspended the processing and evaluation of applications for and the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances covering the affected commodity.

Piñol said Bureau of Animal Industry Director Ronnie Domingo is in Vietnam to discuss with his counterpart the measures being implemented by Hanoi to prevent the entry of ASF.

“The DA will now mobilize its people, especially its technicians, to check all hog raising farms all over the country to ensure that whatever health issues there are would be addressed especially PED (porcine epidemic diarrhea virus), the disease that’s killing piglets, so that we’ll be able to produce enough piglets for the market,” he added.

He assured the pubic that the DA would be “very vigilant” to ensure that smuggled pork products, such as ham, from China would not enter the Philippines.

Outbreaks of ASF had been reported in four provinces in Chin. The first case was reported on August 3 in Liaoning province.