Agriculture dep’t lifts ban on hog products from Japan

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on imports of farmed and wild pigs and other hog products from Japan.

In Memorandum Order No. 11, series of 2019, Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) has found that the risk of contamination from classical swine fever of pig and pig products from Japan is negligible.

Products such as domestic and wild pigs including pork, pig skin, and semen from Japan can be shipped again to the Philippines.

“All import transactions of the above products shall be in accordance with existing rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry and National Meat Inspection Service (DA-BAI-NMIS),” he said.

Mr. Piñol earlier ordered a ban on pork imports from Japan in February after reports of African Swine Fever (ASF) in that country. There were four separate cases in Japan in January, and seven cases were confirmed between October and January involving pork inspected at domestic airports.

ASF is a non-treatable and contagious, and can kill swine in as little as two days.

Other territories affected by the virus are China, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hungary, Belgium, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Moldova, South Africa and Zambia. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang