CABANATUAN CITY – The local government and meat vendors continue to campaign to ally fears over African swine fever (ASF) amid the drastic fall in pork sales in the market.
Mayor Myca Elizabeth Vergara, along with acting city veterinarian Dr. Lorna Rivera, led meat vendors and the public in eating lechon (roast pigs) and other pork preparations in a boodle fight at the public market here Wednesday.
Rowena Mina, chair of the Cabanatuan City Meat Vendors Cooperative, said their sales slid by as much as 50 percent a day since the ASF scare last September.
She would not state by how much though. Mina said consumers were apparently scared of the animal disease despite assurance that it could not affect human.
“Ang mga paninda po namin ay malinis. Lahat ay dumadaan sa tamang proseso,” Mina said, adding that they only would slaughter animals at the city slaughterhouse.
While hogs’ live prices were down, ingredients used in production of longganisa and other products soared thus they cannot just cut market prices, Mina said.
Vergara said the city keeps the slaughterhouse “at par” to make sure meat products are safe. Enforcers, she said, are on guard against ASF.
“Tuloy-tuloy po kasi para sa mga taga-Cabanatuan yun at siyempre para tuloy-tuloy rin na makakain tayo ng mga baboy na walang ASF,” Vergara said.
The city government, she said, invests on both the livelihood and safety of its people.
