Assorted pork siopao (steamed pork buns) from Quezon City amounting to almost P1 million was seized by the African Swine Fever Task Force at Bacolod Port on Wednesday night.
The truck with container van was about to leave the port when the ASF Task Force noticed it. It came from a passenger vessel that came from Cebu. But the document presented by the driver showed that the 8,640 packs of assorted siopao came from Manila.
Each pack contains 6 pieces of various siopao products, such as premium asado, premium bola-bola and premium spicy asado.
The shipper came from Mandaue City, Cebu. The task force suspects that the supplier owned a big food chain in Bacolod.
After the confiscation was recorded, the products were returned inside the container van and were scheduled to be shipped back to the shipper.
Meanwhile, 10 kilos of assorted meat products from Pampanga were sequestered at the Bacolod Airport. The products, such as bacon, tocino, and chicharron, amounted to P6,000 were burned at the airport on Wednesday night.
According to provincial veterinarian Dr. Renante Decena, the series of confiscations are the result of the committed effort of the task force to protect the province against pork products that could infect the province’s hog industry with ASF.
Decena further added that the province is planning to extend the 90-day ban that will end on December 18, 2019. (RJ Espartinez)