Meat processors group vows to buy local deboned chicken meat

The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) vowed support for the local industry by buying mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken from a new facility to be set up by the local producers

MDM is the principal material in the production of canned meat products, according to PAMPI.

"We will buy all the MDM that local producers can provide so that we don’t have to import it anymore, thus saving our precious foreign exchange," PAMPI president Felix Tiukinhoy Jr. said in a statement.

PAMPI welcomed the proposal of Agriculture Secretary William Dar and poultry producers to put up facilities to produce MDM that will supply the needs of the local meat processing industry.

Meat processors currently import MDM from different countries in the absence of local production, the industry group said.

The bulk or 70% of the country’s poultry imports is MDM, which is not produced locally, it added.

Tiukinhoy also said PAMPI is willing to work with local producers and suppliers to ensure that meat production will not be disrupted by any vested groups. 

Quoting the Agriculture chief, PAMPI said the DA encouraged poultry producers and other key players in the food value chain to continuously elevate their game to ensure the adequate, accessible and affordable supply of food for the Filipino people during the pandemic. —LDF, GMA News