KIDAPAWAN CITY – The city government has tightened its biosecurity in the wake of confirmed cases of African Swine Flu (ASF) in Davao Occidental.
City Mayor Joseph directed the City Veterinarian Office to enforce quarantine measures to contain possible entry of African swine fever here.
The order covers all swine farms, entry of hogs and pork meat products. All vehicles transporting swine or pork meat products entering the city will be inspected and disinfected.
In his order, Evangelista stressed “We will establish additional quarantine areas to be manned by the City Government along entry and exit points in the city to contain the spread of ASF. I am planning to coordinate with our neighboring LGU’s especially the LGU of Makilala to set up quarantine points along its boundary with Davao del Sur to check swine and pork meat products passing here in our locality.”
The order was issued after the Department of Agriculture confirmed that ASF virus killed about a thousand (1,000) hogs in the towns of Malita and Malalag, Davao Occidental.
City Veterinarian Dr. Eugene Gornez, who attended the conference said they crafted a contingency plan, on a worse case scenario.
The City Government calls the public to stay calm and vigilant but encourages pork consumers to exercise caution on buying pork meat and its bi-products to look for the seal of National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) and make sure that the dealer has the veterinary health certificate issued by the OCVET, to make sure that the meat is safe for human consumption.
Evangelista plans to hold a dialogue with local pork ‘lechon’ business operators and backyard hog raisers to orient how they can contain the spread of ASF.-Jiann Padillo with PR
