CEBU, Philippines — Food and Drugs Administration in the Visayas has urged local distributors and retailers to voluntarily recall and destroy their processed pork meat products from 16 countries infected by the African Swine Flu.
Lawyer Anabelle C. De Veyra, FDA-Visayas cluster director, said they are giving the distributors and retailers a chance to avoid derogatory reports against them by voluntarily removing their products from the market.
Veyra clarified that only processed pork meat products manufactured from September 2018 up to the present and imported from Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Czech Republic, China, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Zambia, South Africa, Ukraine and Vietnam are covered in the recall order.
We urged them nga sila na lang ang mo recall sa maong mga produkto then sila na sad ang mo destroy ana kay kung kami pa ang mo pull out kay derogatory kaayo na para nila," said De Veyra.
Local distributors and retailers are mandated to submit to FDA a status report of their compliance to the recall order.
"Our inspectors are also monitoring compliance. Next week we will have an inter-agency meeting on ASF control," De Veyra said.
A heightened post-marketing surveillance and audit is being conducted on all establishments covered by the FDA order to ensure full compliance.
De Veyra warned that those who will be caught violating the order would be held 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.
Earlier this week, the FDA ordered the recall and seizure of all processed pork meat products from countries suspected to be affected by the ASF virus.
Under FDA Order 2019-046, the agency directed all importers, distributors, retail outlets and other dealers to immediately recall all pork meat products from the countries identified with ASF virus.
Consumers who have bought canned goods imported from these countries are also advised to return them.
"Pwede na nila i-uli kung asa na nila gipalit especially kung ang namaligya nga sari-sari store. Then ang mga sari-sari store owners can return it kung asa na nga supermarket nila gipalit. Then ang mga supermarkets can return that also kung asa na nila gipalit. But they have to report it to us kay basin daghan kaayo sila og i-uli then while going to the pier madakpan na hinoon," De Veyra explained.
The FDA has advised the public to exercise caution in purchasing and consuming processed pork meat products.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture is also urging all local and foreign travellers coming from countries with ASF outbreaks to refrain from bringing pork or any meat and meat by-products into the country.
DA has already banned the importation pork and its by-products or any meat products from countries affected by ASF virus and or any animal disease outbreaks that can cause harm to the local livestock industry.
Travellers are also encouraged to step on the footbaths to prevent the entry of the virus, which might had contact with their shoes. The ASF is a viral disease that is contagious to animals but not to humans. — FPL (FREEMAN)