FDA-7 inventories, seals meat products due to virus

CEBU, Philippines — The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA)-7 has continued to conduct inventory and sealed processed meat products coming from 16 countries infected with the African Swine Flu (ASF) virus.

FDA-7 Regional Supervisor Rica Aumentado said that so far they have inventoried thousands of processed meat products since last week.

"So far, thousands of pieces na nga mga processed meat products in different grams na ang among na-inventory ug gisilyuhan aron dili na ni mabaligya from various distributors and retailers sa mga malls," said Aumentado.

Early last week, the FDA has urged distributors and retailers to voluntarily recall and destroy their processed pork meat products coming from the 16 countries infected with the ASF.

Lawyer Anabelle C. De Veyra, Director II of FDA Visayas Cluster (Region 6,7 and 8), said yesterday that although the order is to seize these products, all they can do is to inventory and have it sealed, since they do not have warehouse or bodega.

The 16 countries infected with ASF virus include Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Czech Republic, China, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Zambia, South Africa, Ukraine and Vietnam.

Under FDA Order 2019-046, the agency ordered all importers, distributors, retail outlets and other dealers to immediately recall all pork meat products imported from countries suspected to be affected by the ASF virus.

In FDA Advisory 2019-127, the agency also advised the public to exercise caution in purchasing and consuming processed pork meat products and is advised to only consume those that are sourced from countries other than those above listed countries suspected to be affected by ASF virus and are registered with the FDA.

The advisory added that the FDA does not allow the registration of processed pork meat products from the said countries at present.

It added that a heightened post-marketing surveillance and audit is being conducted on all concerned and covered establishments to ensure full compliance with the FDA order and, at the same time, to hold violators liable under Republic Act 9711 (Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009, Republic Act 10611 (Food Safety Act of 2013) and other pertinent laws, all in the interest of protecting public health and safety.

The ASF is a viral disease that is contagious to animals, has no treatment and vaccination and no known cure.

ASF is not contagious to humans but could put the swine industry at risk, according to the Department of Agriculture, in a statement. (FREEMAN)