DA, BOC to determine if confiscated garlic safe for humans

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) would be testing the safety for consumption of the 125 metric  tons of illegal garlic shipments from China seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) last week. 

In a statement, Agriculture Secretary for Field Operations Emerson Palad said the DA and the BOC opened over the weekend five of the 24 seized container vans of garlic that originated from China to collect samples for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) testing. 

“ In line with BOC and DA procedures, the garlic samples shall be subjected to the required SPS testing at the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to determine whether they are safe for human consumption and free from pest and diseases,” said Palad. 

The shipment valued at P37 million was confiscated by BOC because of the absence of accompanying import permits.

Palad said the SPS clearance is imperative for all agricultural imports to protect the health of consumers and to make sure that there will be no threat on local agricultural produce. 

 “The laboratory test usually takes three days, then we will turn over the result and the samples to the BOC for their final disposition,” he said.

Palad commended the intensified drive of the BOC against the illegal entry of agricultural products which he said both is beneficial to the government and to the farmers.

Should the seized garlic pass the SPS testing, BOC and DA may consider disposing the contraband through the DA’s Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (DA-AMAS) for distribution. 

 “Should the garlic end up in the local market, it shall further boost the domestic supply and could further influence downward trend in prices,” said Palad.

Importing garlic without the proper import permits from DA violates Presidential Decree  1433 (Plant Quarantine Law of 1978).

Palad said efforts of the DA to increase garlic supply into the market through the deployment of rolling stores have helped ease consumers’ garlic price woes. Based on DA’s latest monitoring, prevailing market price of imported garlic had gone down to around P150 per kilo in some Metro Manila markets from as high as nearly P400 a kilo.

DA said it expects prices to go down further by the coming weeks following the arrival on Friday of the first batch of the legally imported stocks, for which 280 SPS clearances were issued by the DA-Plant Quarantine Office.