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By Jefferson Antiporda Reporter
THE Quezon City government
confiscated five tons—or about 5,000 kilos—of suspected
“double-dead” or “tainted” meats during a surprise
inspection made by the city’s health department in Balintawak
Market last Tuesday.
Double-dead meats are the flesh
of animals that have died of diseases and then slaughtered,
quartered and butchered for sale.
Shown to the media, a letter to
Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. of Quezon City from the City Health
Department said that the double-dead meats were confiscated during
its “joint strike operation” with the Quezon City Police
District and the National Meat Inspection Services (NMIS).
City authorities said although
the hog-cholera outbreak in Bulacan and Pampanga has been declared
under control by national agriculture and health authorities, the
Quezon City government persisted in making sure that all meats being
sold in the public markets are clean, safe and not tainted in any
way.
“We carried out the raid as an
intensified post abattoir inspection activity to avoid the
proliferation of double-dead or diseased meats in the city,” said
Ana Marie Cabel, chief of the Veterinary Services Division of the
City Health Department.
She said that reports received by
the city’s health department speak of some traders who are engaged
in the transportation of hog meats infected with the flu. The
confiscation according to Cabel was the largest ever recorded in the
city and some were found hidden in Styrofoam containers and iced
crates. Some of the illegal meat seized were tons of skinless pork
and imported beef.
The confiscated meats were taken
to the NMIS compound.
Other public markets in Quezon
City are still being investigated and placed under surveillance.
On Monday the provincial
government of Bulacan gave its assurance that hog meat—even those
from backyard swine raisers—from the province is safe to eat.
Gov. Joselito Mendoza of Bulacan
said that although Bulacan is one of the provinces struck by swine
flu, it has had less such cases than other provinces that have more
backyard than commercial hog raisers.
The Bureau of Animal Industry
announced on Tuesday that the spread of hog cholera and other
diseases that hit some pig farms in Bulacan and Pampanga has been
contained.
The BAI said 43 barangays in 11
towns and one city in Bulacan were affected by hog cholera and a
total 2,823 hogs were afflicted. 
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