MEAT INSPECTORS FLAG chicken from Manila
Authorities have barred the sale of about 21 tons of dressed chicken from Manila which arrived at the Cagayan de Oro port last Monday, August 14, for fear of contamination of the bird-flu virus.
Dr. Angie Barcelona, regional technical director of the National Meat Inspection Services in Northern Mindanao (NMIS-10), confirmed that the suspicious 21 tons of dressed chicken are now in being stored in Tagoloan while undergoing tests.
Barcelona however clarified that the dressed chicken were not intercepted, as earlier reported, but only inspected as part of their intensified daily monitoring of meat delivered in any part of the region.
“We ordered them to not sell or distribute any of the chicken yet as confirmatory tests are still being done to make sure that the chicken are free of bird-flu virus,” she said.
“Ato pa nga ivalidate kung authentic ba ang papel, kanang routinary gud na pag inspect nato,” she added.
Barcelona said the chicken were inspected inside the owner’s storage. She however declined to divulge the name of the owner.
The chicken are still under the custody of the owner but distribution of the chicken meat has been disallowed till after tests show that these are free of the avian flu virus.
Dr. Dale Llentic, Department of Agriculture-10 quarantine officer, said the chicken were initially tagged as suspicious because they were butchered in Bulacan,
a province near Pampanga where the bird flu outbreak was declared.
The chicken originally came from Pasig.
“The owner has complete legal documents, he even has shipping permit, pero ang circumstance sa pag-ihaw niya, kaduda-duda kaya iniimbestigahan natin. man gud sa Bulacan, which is near the infested area in Pampanga, baka may virus so kailangan ma test,” Llentic said.
Llentic also disclosed that the owner got the shipping permit and all other documents for shipping before the memorandum to ban the travel of poultry products from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao was issued.
The Northern Mindanao region is the 3rd biggest producer of poultry products in the country, with a total of 11 percent or 19,596,441 heads contributed to the national inventory.
Out of the 19.5 million heads of chicken inventory, 7.7 million are broiler chicken, 3.7 million are for layers and 8 million heads are native chicken.