Vigan longganiza to go global

VIGAN CITY — Following the celebration of the fifth Longganiza Festival here on Sunday, city officials announced that they are working to make the famous Vigan longganiza (sausage) attractive to the local and global market.

"Our objective this year is to improve the packaging system to make our longganiza more attractive and induce demand both locally and globally," Mayor Ferdinand Medina said.

The city government is actually planning to come up with ready-to-eat packages so that the famous native sausage would be readily available for tourists on the go.

Vigan’s native longganiza has been made popular by its unique taste and ingredients that include Ilocos vinegar and native garlic.  

Medina and Vice Mayor Francisco Ranches said that the local government of Vigan has extended a P100,000 soft loan to six longganiza makers to start producing the native sausages in their new tourist-ready packs.

The mayor said that their longganiza products have been a must buy for visitors and the demand has been increasing over the years.

Vigan longganiza is the city’s contribution to the One Town One Project (OTOP) program of the national government. — Teddy Molina