MANILA, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The Philippines' Department of
Agriculture on Tuesday threatened legal action against hog
traders ignoring strict animal quarantine rules as it confirmed
new cases of African swine fever infections in metropolitan
Manila and a northern province.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the highly contagious
and deadly disease was detected in another backyard hog-raising
business in Quezon City in the country's capital.
Dar, who also confirmed African swine fever outbreaks in
Pangasinan province in the northern Philippines, has ordered the
culling of pigs in affected areas.
The incurable disease is wreaking havoc on hog industries in
China and Southeast Asia and could also spell trouble for U.S.
grain exporters supplying animal feeds to virus-hit countries
such as Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines. Dar told reporters hog traders transporting infected pigs
were to blame for the rising number of African swine fever cases
in the Philippines.
"All hog traders, the full force of the law will descend
upon you," he warned. "There are existing laws to follow and we
hope that you will cooperate."
At least 20,000 pigs have so far been culled or have died
because of the disease in the Philippines since last month, a
small fraction of the nation's swine herd that was estimated at
12.7 million heads as of July 1.
The Philippines, the world's 10th-largest pork consumer and
seventh-biggest pork importer, declared its first outbreak of
the disease on Sept. 9. Agriculture officials suspect the virus was brought to local
farms via food scraps, or swill, from hotels and restaurants fed
to pigs, mixed with contaminated imported pork products.
To protect their hog-raising businesses, several provinces
in central and southern Philippines have imposed a ban on the
entry of pork and pork-based products from the disease-hit
areas, including metropolitan Manila.
"We have now asked the local government units to further
strengthen their checkpoints," Dar said, to make sure
undocumented hogs possibly infected with the virus will not be
transported to other provinces.
Dar, however, said there is still enough pork supply in the
domestic market and that the government is making sure that only
pork meat marked safe to eat by the government's National Meat
Inspection Service is sold to consumers.
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Map of outbreaks if African swine fever https://tmsnrt.rs/2nsxi0l
Philippines reports first known outbreak of African swine fever
https://tmsnrt.rs/317wnRO
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