Safe pork meat in the Philippines?

Governor Joselito Mendoza clarified that although Bulacan was hit by the swine flu; the number of infected swine was considerably less when compared to that of other provinces, where there are more backyard hog raisers. Mendoza said swine that were infected by the so-called hog cholera were mainly from those backyard raisers, and in Bulacan, 80% of hogs are from commercial raisers.

 

He added, “We want to inform the public that not all pig meat being sold in Metro Manila come from Bulacan, and Bulacan is not the only province that was infected by the ‘hog cholera.’ But we can assure that meat from our province is safe.”  He also reported that some traders are partly to blame in the swine-flu scare because they have taken advantage of the disease to force small-time hog raisers to sell their swine at a cheaper price.

 

 

Mendoza continued to say that although the disease is not as serious and infected hogs can recover from the disease. He also claimed that he plans to invite the members of the press and the residents of Bulacan to witness them eat pork meat from backyard raisers, which will show the people that it is safe.

 

It was announced by The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) that the spread of hog cholera and other diseases that hit some pig farms in the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga was already under control. Based on the data of BAI, 43 barangays (townships) in 11 towns and one city in Bulacan were affected by hog cholera – a total of 2,823 hogs.

 

Mendoza said continuous monitoring of pig farms are now underway by the provincial government to prevent the spread of the disease and checkpoints have been put in place to prevent infected or double dead pigs being transported to Manila.