DA lifts import ban on heat-treated canned pork

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on the importation of industrially manufactured, hermetically sealed, and heat-treated canned pork products due to the threat of African swine fever (ASF) virus.

According to Department Circular No. 42, the DA noted that its risk analysis conducted last January showed that the biosecurity risks are negligible.

The World Organisation for Animal Health Terrestrial Animal Health Code provides that heat treatment of at least 30 minutes at a minimum temperature of 70 degrees Celsius can inactivate the ASF virus on the meat.

"The World Organisation for Animal Health principle of Safe Commodities asserts that specific industrial treatments - specifically hermetic sealing and thermal sterilization - effectively neutralize ASFv," the circular read.

The DA said that only pork products that have undergone heat treatment in a hermetically sealed contained, industrially manufactured, and canned with valid registration in the Philippines can be imported.

It also recently lifted the temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds from Japan after it was declared free from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). —KG, GMA News