By HENRY EMPEÑO |

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Authorities at the Port of Subic have confiscated some P600,000 worth of meat products from China, as the government tightened monitoring and quarantine procedures in all ports to prevent the entry into the country of the dreaded African swine fever (ASF).

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Wilma T. Eisma said Subic port officials seized last Wednesday (May 29) a meat shipment consigned to a company in Makati City after learning it was shipped from Guangzhou, China.

“It was immediately flagged by the quarantine officer from the Department of Agriculture, and then the Bureau of Customs confiscated the shipment,” Eisma explained.

She said the confiscated meat will be immediately destroyed, as recommended by the Bureau of Quarantine, with the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) disposing of it at the expense of the consignee.

Eisma said the Port of Subic has been on the lookout for meat products from countries hit by ASF after the government called for strict monitoring in all ports of entry.

According to Jerome Martinez, manager of the SBMA Seaport Department, the meat products from China were shipped in a refrigerated van aboard MV Hansa Altenburg, a container ship that arrived in Subic on May 27.

The container van was declared to contain 2,385 packages of “food items” with a dutiable value of P591,817.90.

Martinez added that the confiscated meat will be injected with chemicals and then buried underground. BAI personnel are now looking for a suitable area here for the burial, he also said.

China is among the 16 countries on the watch list of areas affected by the ASF, which the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has declared to be a highly-contagious hemorrhagic viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered the recall and seizure of imported pork meat products from countries suspected to be affected by the ASF virus.

These included China, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, Zambia, South Africa, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Mongolia, Moldova, and Belgium.

 

FAST FACTS: African swine fever virus

(Source: The Pirbright Institute)

African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a severe disease in domestic pigs and wild boar that can result in death in almost all pigs that are infected. The clinical signs of ASF can vary but are similar to some other pig diseases. Signs typically occur 3-15 days after-infection.

The early signs are non-specific and include:

• High fever, lethargy and loss of appetite.
• Pigs may die suddenly without further disease signs.

At later stages further signs may be observed including:

• Reddening of the skin (visible only in pale-skinned pigs), with patches appearing on the tips of ears, tail, feet, chest, or under the belly.
• Diarrhoea, vomiting.
• Laboured breathing.
• Swollen red eyes, eye discharge.
• Abortions, still-births.
• Increasing morbidity and unwillingness to get up.

In severe cases death can sometimes be the only sign of infection, with a case fatality rate as high as 100%.

Disease transmission:

The disease can be spread directly through contact. It can also be spread indirectly through feeding infected pig meat and /or pork products, species of soft tick in some regions and possibly blood sucking flies or insects and through contaminated objects (fomites) such as vehicles, clothes, equipment etc.

Disease prevalence:

Since emerging in the early 1900s from East Africa, ASF has moved through sub-Saharan Africa and on two occasions has entered European countries. Since the second incursion to Georgia in 2007, ASF continued to the Russian Federation and Eastern Europe, including EU countries in the Baltic States, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania. In August 2018, Bulgaria and China confirmed outbreaks, shortly followed by Belgium in September. The disease continues to spread, and has now reached Vietnam and most recently Cambodia in April 2019.