MidanaoToday.com | CdeO anti-hot meat drive nets 4 lechons
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A team of meat inspectors from the City Veterinary Office (CVO) seized on Sunday, September 1, four roasted pigs after the owner failed to show proof these were safe for human consumption.
The confiscation of roasted pigs (lechon) to be chopped and sold to the public was a result of CVO regular post-abattoir activity to protect consumers and prevent the spread of African swine fever (ASF).
CVO Head Perla Asis, in a statement on Tuesday, September 3, said the lechon owner, a resident of Piaping Itum, Macabalan village this city, could not present a business permit and pertinent documents.
Asis said an informant reported to the CVO that the hogs were purchased from Maramag town of Bukidnon province and brought to the city without required documents.
She said the owner should have secured a veterinary health certificate (VHC), a shipping permit, and a recognition of active surveillance (RAS) due to ASF for backyard-raised hogs.
These, she said, are required by the Department of Agriculture (Administrative Order No. 5 of 2019) and Executive Order No. 103-2020 that was issued by the local chief executive.
Asis said the lechon business operator ignored the advice of the barangay biosecurity officer (BBO) of Macabalan to wait for CVO personnel before slaughtering the pigs for roasting.
The BBO is deputized by the CVO under City Ordinance No. 14532-2023, also known as the “Babay ASF Ordinance”. He is tasked to conduct surveillance and monitoring of hog movements in the locality.
The business owner’s only document is a certification from a village in Maramag issued on August 15, 2024 which may have been used earlier, the CVO chief said.
She advised the consuming public to be wary of meats, raw or cooked (lechon), if these are sold in the neighborhood at surprisingly low price because these may not be safe at all.
Asis thanked village officials led by Barangay Chairperson Saniel L. Raypon for the immediate response.
In a related incident, the CVO also confiscated about 11 kilograms of roasted pigs at Buena Oro Subdivision of Macasandig village upon learning these were “hot meat” too.
All seized items were presented to the police stations in Macabalan and Macasandig for documentation before these were brought to the sanitary landfill in Pagatpat village for burial under sanitary regulations. (MT)
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