By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The German embassy in Manila said consultations are ongoing about a German company’s reported breach of quarantine protocol for African swine fever (ASF), which resulted in the move of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to ban all meat products from Germany last week.
“We are now in the stage of consulting with our government, see what happened and then we have to discuss this with Philippine authorities but it’s in very initial stage so we don’t know what really (is) the situation and what can be done to address this and to of course to allow as soon as possible again German meat imports to the Philippines,” German Ambassador to Manila Gordon Kricke told reporters in an interview in Makati City on Tuesday.
A memorandum order suspending the accreditation of German foreign meat establishments to ship meat products in the country was issued by Agriculture chief Emmanuel Piñol last week.
The ban was imposed following the confiscation of a meat shipment from Germany containing pork from Poland, a country hit by ASF. The said animal disease causes high fever, loss of appetite, hemorrhages, and death among domestic and wild pigs.
According to the DA, the swine industry is one of the biggest contributors to the country’s agricultural growth with over 16 percent increase in gross earnings and the risk of ASF entering the country could result in “great losses” in the sector.
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