Pork safe but temporary import ban stays - DA

MANILA, Philippines -The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Tuesday that the temporary suspension of pork imports from Mexico, the United States and Canada would stay amid lack of scientific proof that the unique strain of influenza that reportedly has killed over a hundred people indeed come from pigs. DA Secretary Arthur Yap said the government will maintain this policy as a precautionary measure despite the latest pronouncement by the World Animal Health Organization or Office International des Epizooties (OIE) that “there is no evidence that the virus is transmitted by food" and that it is “not justified to name this disease swine influenza" as it is not technically the swine influenza (SI) virus but a multi-strain one “which includes in its characteristics swine, avian and human virus components." In the absence of any animal disease outbreak in the three countries concerned, the OIE said in its latest official statement that it would be better to call this illness as “North American influenza" even as it added that “urgent scientific research must be started in order to know the susceptibility of animals to this new virus." “The temporary suspension order remains," said Yap in a press briefing. “What is certain at this point, though, is that it is safe for people to eat properly-cooked pork, given the categorical statement of the OIE that the virus is not transmitted by food." Yap called for a news conference to make this announcement and bare the latest OIE report following a morning meeting at his Quezon City office with hog industry leaders, namely, Renato Eleria, Eliseo Yu and Arceo Alfonso from the National Federation of Hog Farmers’ Inc. (NFHFI); Dr. Leo Obviar, president of Philippine Swine Producers Association (PSPA): and Wilfredo Resoso, president of the Philippine College of Swine Practitioners (PCSP). These groups represent, among others, Foremost Farm, Monterey, Robina, Holiday Hills and RS Farm. With the temporary suspension, the government will have to source some of the 50,000 metric tons of pork requirement no longer from the affected countries but from Mindanao and ten other pork-importing nations still free from the virus. Infection route The virus, which is spread through coughing or sneezing, like any other type of flu germs, was found to spread through human-to-human contraction. It is being blamed for more than 100 confirmed and suspected deaths in Mexico, the epicenter where thousands more have fallen ill reportedly due to the strain. From Mexico, the infection has already spread to neighboring countries Canada and the United States, and has even crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Spain and Scotland. Cases have likewise been reported in Brazil, Colombia, Israel, South Korea, and New Zealand. Just like most countries, the Philippines has already tightened its watch for travelers entering the country by air and sea by installing thermal scanning. Eleven apparatuses – which can detect if a person suffers from fever – are currently installed in the country's six international airport. As of Tuesday noon, the Bureau of Quarantine has not yet intercepted any suspected carrier of the various in the country’s sea and air ports. Aside from going under thermal scanning, travelers arriving in the Philippines are also required to take foot baths. In the press conference, Catbagan also allayed fears that the reported deaths of hogs in a farm in Pangasinan were due to an influenza virus, saying it was merely a “false alarm." Catbagan assured that the pigs might have died due to other causes. Despite his assurance, the BAI official still lamented the sudden drop in pork prices in the local market between P5 and P10 per kilogram. Soledad Agbayani of the Philippine Association of Hog Raisers appealed to the media not to blow out of proportion the novel virus scare, saying their industry have yet to recover from the brunt brought by an earlier swine infection from the Ebola Reston virus. Meanwhile, vendors in Cebu have yet to feel the effect of the swine flu scare, according to a Regional GMA radio report. Officials from the National Meat Inspection Service in Central Visayas said Catbagan said the BAI will coordinate with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and other airport and seaport authorities to stop the entry of pork from countries subject to the importation ban. Yap said any changes in the suspension order will be taken up in the National Disaster Coordinating Council meeting at Camp Aguinaldo Tuesday afternoon. More safety measures The DA and BAI said on Monday they were mounting yet another slew of measures topped by more stringent bio-security and border-control steps to prevent a domestic outbreak of swine influenza in response to the laboratory-confirmed cases of human infections in Mexico and the US. On top of the measures announced last weekend by Yap, Catbagan said the bureau will coordinate with the Bureau of Customs and Philippine Ports Authority along with airlines and shipping companies on tightening border controls in international airports and seaports. BAI is also imposing stricter bio-security measures and farm accreditation systems, said Catbagan, as well as strengthening quarantine checkpoints to prevent the transport, and ensure the proper disposal, of sick pigs, so these animals do not end up in the human food chain. Last weekend, Yap directed BAI “to measure and to strengthen the monitoring of all the ports to prevent the entry of any hogs/pork from Mexico and the US" and to “augment existing quarantine checkpoints to further prevent movement of sick pigs." Yap had also ordered the BAI “to lift the restriction in the use of SI vaccine and encourage hog farmers to regularly vaccinate their pigs against SI as the vaccine will be readily available." - Mark Merueñas with D’Jay Lazaro, GMANews.TV