Agri dept drafts new directive on meat products

A new administrative order on the handling of frozen and chilled meat and meat products in wet markets is being formulated, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said on Thursday.   This move came after the DA saw signs that the United States and Canada will block the Philippines’ petition on extending the quantitative restrictions on rice imports pending before the World Trade Organization   “We are now drafting a replacement AO that will satisfy the scientific perspective of Canada and US demands” Alcala said.   The QR on rice is due to expire in June this year. Alcala said the import limits are still needed because the country is not yet self-sufficient in palay production.   Canada and the United States have opposed DA Administrative Order No. 22 on meat and meat products. They claim AO 22 exempts freshly slaughtered meat or warm meat of Philippine producers but requires refrigeration for imported meats.   US meat producers and exports have said in a letter to US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that “the exemption from refrigeration requirements provided to freshly slaughtered pork, originating entirely from the Philippines, has no basis in science, and inherently discriminates against imported product that its predominantly frozen or thawed.”   “We also have concerns that the Philippine government seems to have limited imports of pork and beef recently for no apparent reason, and recently implemented ‘test and hold’ requirements for imported meat products, again for no explained reason and seems to have no basis in science,” the US meat industry groups said.   Nowhere in any of the six sections of AO 22, series of 2010, does it expressly state that there are different standards for local and imported meats.   The AO requires meat stalls to keep meats “in temperature not higher than 10 degrees Celsius” and that refrigerated facilities and transport maintain temperature “not higher than 4 degrees Celsius”.   “Frozen meats and meat products shall be displayed and sold in meat stalls in sealed primary packaging,” AO 22 also states.   However, the AO is silent on or has no specific provisions on freshly slaughtered meat. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/ELR, GMA News