National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) operatives seized at least 10 tons or 1,054 boxes of duck meat allegedly from China in Navotas this Wednesday.
“May tumawag sa ‘kin, may nag-tip na meron daw silang nakitang container van sa may bandang San Rafael na nagbababa ng boxes with Chinese characters. Inalerto ko yung team ko,” said Dr. Isidro Callangan, head of the NMIS Enforcement Unit in the National Capital Region.
(Someone called me, they said they had found a container van in the San Rafael area that was dropping boxes with Chinese characters. I alerted my team.)
There is a high chance that the meat will be dropped to restaurants since they are ingredients for making Peking duck.
Based on the contents of the boxes and according to the tip, the confiscated meat is suspected to be from China.
Read: DA blames smuggled pork from China for ASF outbreak in Philippines
10 tons duck meat seized in Navotas probably from China- NMIS
“Illegal in the sense na wala silang (they have no) import permit. And at the same time, because of the Chinese character labeling, it is assumed that it is from China which is a banned country. Banned for diseases,” said Callangan.
Until now, China has not been cleared of diseases such as African swine fever and avian flu that could pose a threat to human health as well as the country’s animal industry.
NMIS NCR caught the meat boxes being dropped off at a warehouse. It is possible that there were still items inside the NMIS that have not seized yet.
Authorities caught only the driver and warehouse guard who said they did not know that the duck meat was banned, and they just ordered it.
NMIS will still need a search warrant to enter the warehouse where the yet unknown number of meat has been dropped. NMIS would burry the meat on Thursday.