Philippines issues temporary ban on German pork

04-Jul-2019 - Last updated on 04-Jul-2019 at 11:35 GMT

Pork imports from Germany to Philippines have been suspended due to ASF fears

The Philippines Department of Agriculture has issued a ban on pork imports from Germany.

The ban was implemented when 250kg of pork coming from Germany, was found to have come from Poland, one of the countries that has reported an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF).

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piño announced the ban on social media.

“The National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) and the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) conducted the joint investigation after the Cebu City Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF), headed by Dr Alice Utlang, reported the incident to the national agencies.

“The shipment was intercepted on June 27, 2019 at 3am by LGU Cebu City, DVMF inspectors and was disposed through incineration.”

In the banning order, also published on social media, it said that there was “co-mingling of pork flat bones from Poland which is an African Swine Fever affected country with the legitimate importation from Germany”.

The business responsible for the shipment, ProFood, admitted that it imported pork from Poland and part of the importation was shipped to the Philippines and apologised for the mistake.

BAI director Dr. Ronnie Domingo said this was a “serious violation which warranted the banning of all pork shipments from Germany”.

This brings to 19 the total number of countries not allowed to ship pork and pork products to the Philippines.