Processed meat producers warn of burger, sausage shortage

MANILA, Philippines — Consumers should savor their fastfood favorites such as burgers and breakfast sausages as these may slowly be removed from the menu boards due to the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in the country.

The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) said that fastfood chains might not be able to offer pork-based products if the government will not issue proper guidelines to local government units on the transport of these products.

“Fastfood chains only store about two to four weeks (of supplies). And most bans covered 90 days or 12 weeks. So those supplies will dwindle. Consumers are not yet feeling it, but they eventually will,” PAMPI spokesman Rex Agarrado said at a weekly forum yesterday.

“Burger patties, breakfast sausages, meat-based pizzas are among those that will be hit if guidelines will not be implemented clearly,” Agarrado said.

This developed following an incident in Ilocos, where delivery trucks of fastfood companies were stopped at checkpoint.

The trucks were blocked at 11 a.m and were only allowed entry after 4 p.m.

Agarrado said the drivers showed all the documents needed, including license to operate by Bureau of Food and Drugs, certificate of product registration and other documents from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).

It was only after phone calls from the Department of Agriculture (DA) that the deliveries were allowed to pass through.

Currently, unconditional total ban is in effect in Cebu and Bohol, while Davao Oriental and the Negros provinces have also expressed that they are leaning toward the same direction.

“We are concerned because fastfood chains keep very minimal inventories of products on their shelves and they deliver direct. LGUs should understand that their structure is very different,” Agarrado said.

“Their production centers are in Manila. They have rules on how long they could keep their products,” he added.

Meanwhile, military checkpoints in Eastern Mindanao are being utilized as quarantine checkpoints to help prevent the spread of ASF.

Lt. General Felimon Santos Jr., chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command, offered the existing security checkpoints to the DA and local government units.

As of yesterday, military checkpoints of Task Force Davao have been expanded into quarantine checkpoints after the city government of Davao City deployed quarantine personnel.

Santos said the quarantine units would be assisted by some 65 personnel of Task Force Davao who were also oriented on animal and meat quarantine procedurea.– With Michael Punongbayan