Hot meat from China traced to Pampanga group — Pampi
The Daily Tribune
12/05/2006
Philippines
The biggest group of meat processors in the country said the flood of smuggled pork in the market has been traced to a Pampanga-based company.
In a statement, the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) has taken the Department of Agriculture (DA) to task in conducting an impartial investigation on the smuggling from China of 62,000 kilos of meat worth P12 million, which ended up in a warehouse in Pampanga province.
The country bans importation of meat products from China, which remains under a worldwide watchlist for the contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) afflicting Chinese livestock.
Despite the ban, shipments of hot meat from China continue to flood the local market, threatening both the local hog industry and the meat-processing sector.
Last September, four reefer vans containing smuggled meat products disappeared from the warehouse of the Bureau of Customs, only to be later recovered in Pampanga, according to Pampi.
Pampi issued the statement after the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) raided the Kayabe ice plant and cold storage in Barangay Lagundi in Mexico town, Pampanga province in the morning of Nov. 28.
A Pampi spokesman said the group obtained video shots of the hot meat from China stocked in the Pampanga warehouse.
Authorities discovered the missing meat products, believed to have been pilfered from the four reefer vans earlier seized by PNP. The raid in Mexico town yielded an estimated 62,000 kilos of meat that could have been contaminated with FMD.
Inside the cold storage, the operatives met with Alan David, believed to be the owner of the facility and a certain Adrian Garcia, without allowing other people to get in.
Mar Cunanan, operations supervisor of Kayabe, identified the owner of the questionable meat as a certain Polintan, which is believed to be the alias used by Garcia, whose family runs a popular hotdog manufacturing company in Pampanga.
Pampi expressed fear of a whitewash in the police investigation, as the raid involved a four-hour closed-door meeting between the supposed investigators and owners of the meat plant. “During that negotiation or meeting, the media were barred from entering the cold storage,” witnesses said.
Pampi said it condemns in the strongest terms possible this unlawful activity by people who want to earn a fast buck at the expense of local livestock industry, without considering the safety of the Filipino consumers.
Fearing a whitewash in the police investigation, Pampi called on Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to initiate an impartial investigation on the case. “We urge Secretary Arthur Yap to name the perpetrators, and not just the crime committed,” Pampi said.
The local hog raisers group also threatened to stage a pig holiday during the Christmas season, if the government agency cannot get to the bottom of the pork smuggling case.
tribune.net.ph
The Daily Tribune
12/05/2006
Philippines
The biggest group of meat processors in the country said the flood of smuggled pork in the market has been traced to a Pampanga-based company.
In a statement, the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) has taken the Department of Agriculture (DA) to task in conducting an impartial investigation on the smuggling from China of 62,000 kilos of meat worth P12 million, which ended up in a warehouse in Pampanga province.
The country bans importation of meat products from China, which remains under a worldwide watchlist for the contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) afflicting Chinese livestock.
Despite the ban, shipments of hot meat from China continue to flood the local market, threatening both the local hog industry and the meat-processing sector.
Last September, four reefer vans containing smuggled meat products disappeared from the warehouse of the Bureau of Customs, only to be later recovered in Pampanga, according to Pampi.
Pampi issued the statement after the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) raided the Kayabe ice plant and cold storage in Barangay Lagundi in Mexico town, Pampanga province in the morning of Nov. 28.
A Pampi spokesman said the group obtained video shots of the hot meat from China stocked in the Pampanga warehouse.
Authorities discovered the missing meat products, believed to have been pilfered from the four reefer vans earlier seized by PNP. The raid in Mexico town yielded an estimated 62,000 kilos of meat that could have been contaminated with FMD.
Inside the cold storage, the operatives met with Alan David, believed to be the owner of the facility and a certain Adrian Garcia, without allowing other people to get in.
Mar Cunanan, operations supervisor of Kayabe, identified the owner of the questionable meat as a certain Polintan, which is believed to be the alias used by Garcia, whose family runs a popular hotdog manufacturing company in Pampanga.
Pampi expressed fear of a whitewash in the police investigation, as the raid involved a four-hour closed-door meeting between the supposed investigators and owners of the meat plant. “During that negotiation or meeting, the media were barred from entering the cold storage,” witnesses said.
Pampi said it condemns in the strongest terms possible this unlawful activity by people who want to earn a fast buck at the expense of local livestock industry, without considering the safety of the Filipino consumers.
Fearing a whitewash in the police investigation, Pampi called on Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to initiate an impartial investigation on the case. “We urge Secretary Arthur Yap to name the perpetrators, and not just the crime committed,” Pampi said.
The local hog raisers group also threatened to stage a pig holiday during the Christmas season, if the government agency cannot get to the bottom of the pork smuggling case.
tribune.net.ph