BY MARCHEL P. ESPINA
Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena warned online sellers of pork products in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City against the spread of the African swine fever.
Decena said the province remains ASF-free and the task force will continue to be aggressive in the campaign against ASF.
He called on online sellers to stop selling pork siomai, pork products, and byproducts coming from ASF-affected areas in Luzon and Mindanao.
He said the task force will implement the full force of the law and concerned ordinances.
He added the task force will monitor the online selling of pork and pork products, that he said is seen as the culprit in the spread of ASF in the country.
Just recently, the task force was able to monitor an online seller from Bacolod City whose pork products were hidden with other frozen goods and passed through checkpoints undetected, he said.
He said when they raided the place on Monday, there was no more evidence, adding that the owner was able to sell the pork siomai a few days earlier.
He said they gave the owner a warning, and the seller assured them he will not sell pork products anymore.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Animal Industry said they monitored new outbreaks following the new strategies of sellers.
This time, the pig is no longer transported but being processed, like into longganisa, then sold online.*
