Does your meat meet safety standards?

Walking through the frozen department of a big grocery, I was very amazed by the variety of meat products they offer. From local leg quarters, chicken wings, packed ground pork, chicken nuggets, hotdogs to imported lamb chops, I observed how each item was packed, labeled and prepared and stored in the freezer and if the manufacturing and expiration date is indicated. I wonder, are they all safe for human consumption…..? Food safety is a major concern of all. Unfortunately, it is often taken for granted. Consumers are easily deceived by nice packagings and designs of meat products sold in famous groceries or deli stores, but are they really safe?

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap stresses that food safety is of utmost importance especially at this time when the Philippines is enjoying an enviable status of being free from avian influenza (AI) or bird flu and food and mouth disease (FMD). According to Yap, locally purchased meat is safe, and he has mentioned two agencies that help him with this task of being the guardian of safety — the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).

BAI Director Dave Catbagan said food safety starts from the feeds and medication that are being fed to the chicken and swine that are being raised. According to Catbagan, the role of BAI is to assure the consumers that the animals that are about to be slaughtered are disease free.

The BAI also regulates the veterinary medicines and feeds that are commercially sold in the market. This is being supported by Republic Act 1556. This act regulates importers, manufacturers and distributors of substandard, unregistered veterinary drugs, feeds and feed ingredients (i.e. corn, soy bean, fishmeal….)

Lately, a lot of fly-by-night laboratories have been mushrooming in the market and mixing antibiotics, vitamin and mineral premixes in their backyard by just using a shovel. This is really a very dangerous practice because there is no quality assurance nor safe handling procedure. Moreover, this is illegal.

Sad to say, a lot of farmer cooperatives and swine and poultry raisers prefer to buy products that are cheaper in cost even though they are produced by fly-by-night laboratories which are not even registered with the BAI. The BAI has now the authority to stop the license to operate for both the manufacturer and buyer.

According to Catbagan, a responsible poultry or hog raiser should follow these steps in acquiring feed additives, vitamin, mineral premixes and antibiotics:

a) Always demand a copy of the certificate of product registration (CPR) of the product which is authenticated by BAI (some may show fake CPRs)

b) A copy of the certificate of analysis of the product

c) Material safety data sheet (MSDS)

d) License to operate (LTO) of the distributor or laboratory.

e) If all feedmills and farm owners follow the recommended steps above, it will enable us to have animals which are disease and residue free before slaughter.

As part of their stringent advocacy to ensure the public of food safety, the BAI has its own feed and diagnostic laboratory to monitor the contents of the drugs and feeds being sold in the market. A diligent and aggressive leader, Yap allocated more funds to set up diagnostic centers. Catbagan has been very strict in terms of quality control, monitoring regularly and sending out veterinary field inspectors to spot check poultry supplies, poultry and swine producers, feedmills and veterinary laboratory and to collect samples of the drugs and feeds sold and stocked in their warehouses.

But with all the samples coming in daily in the BAI feed lab, they have accredited several laboratories to help them expedite results. Yap said he is very happy that there are accredited testing labs that may compliment his food safety program so he can allocate the budget of DA to other projects. One of the accredited testing laboratories of the DA is Qualibet Testing Services Corp. This is the newest and most modern testing facility in the Philippines which is manned by US trained chemist, pharmacists, microbiologist and pathologists.

The National Meat Inspection Service has been very active lately in their hot meat campaign and also educating the public about how to buy safety meat products. The NMIS has given me guidelines on how to determine if a piece of meat is fit for human consumption:

• Use common sense: check for normal meat consistency and color (pinkish with no blood splashers, not very dry, watery or slimy and no unusual odor (sexual, pungent or chemical)

• Look for the nutrition facts if the product is processed food like hot dog chicken nuggets etc…

• Buy from reputable meat vendors and markets

• Patronize Filipino products…. But be vigilant

• Report illegal slaughter or double dead animals to the NMIS 924-7980/924-3118

Safe meat is not a privilege of the rich but the right of every Filipino…

A message of concern from Qualibet Testing Services Corp. You can call Ivy or Gigi at 374-8003, 3727993 or at cel nos. 0922-8174465, 0915-6426681, 09178660711.