TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija – Not one backyard piggery project here was affected by the strain of the Ebola-Reston virus as reported by the Department of Agriculture.
“Not a single backyard piggery project here has been identified to have been affected by the virus,” Mayor Nerito Santos. “The truth of the matter is that the tissues of the pig reported to have been found with the virus came from the pigs intercepted from traders who happened to pass by our town,” he added.
He said the meat samples were sent to the Bureau of Animal Industry for examination last July yet. He added that he learned of the findings that the meat his office sent for examination was discovered to be affected by the Ebola virus when Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap told him by phone last week.
Santos related that about ten pigs aboard a truck, two of them already dead and the rest appeared to be sickly, were intercepted by a team led by municipal veterinarian Eugenia de Belen in Barangay Bantug, this town. The pigs, which were meant to be transported to Bulacan, were ordered burned after their meat samples were taken and sent to Manila for examination.
They feared then, he said, that the pigs were afflicted by hog cholera which raged in Nueva Ecija and other places last year.
He said the trader, whose name he could no longer recall, could not say in what places in Nueva Ecija he bought the pigs. The trader, he added, was just passing thru Barangay Bantug here when accosted by the team. None was bought from that barangay, he added.
Santos said that his municipal veterinarian reported to him that a round of inspection in two piggery farms and several backyard piggery projects here conducted last November proved negative of any finding of serious disease or ailment among the pigs being raised here for meat and for hog reproduction.
Municipal secretary Danilo Salazar, who is also acting marketing supervisor here, said that the sales of pork here continued to rise notwithstanding report about the findings of Ebola virus to have been found in commercial and backyard piggery farms in certain places in Central Luzon and Pangasinan provinces.
“The average number of pigs being slaughtered here everyday is from 35 to 40 heads,” Salazar said. “We have assured our buying public here that we are undertaking the necessary precautions in order to ensure that contaminated-free pork is sold to consumers,” he added.
Salazar said that the sales of pork last year compared to the current sales in the public market was dismal as only three to five pigs then were being slaughtered daily. This was because of the prevalence of hog cholera then which affected the piggery business not only in Central Luzon but other provinces.
“Not a single backyard piggery project here has been identified to have been affected by the virus,” Mayor Nerito Santos. “The truth of the matter is that the tissues of the pig reported to have been found with the virus came from the pigs intercepted from traders who happened to pass by our town,” he added.
He said the meat samples were sent to the Bureau of Animal Industry for examination last July yet. He added that he learned of the findings that the meat his office sent for examination was discovered to be affected by the Ebola virus when Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap told him by phone last week.
Santos related that about ten pigs aboard a truck, two of them already dead and the rest appeared to be sickly, were intercepted by a team led by municipal veterinarian Eugenia de Belen in Barangay Bantug, this town. The pigs, which were meant to be transported to Bulacan, were ordered burned after their meat samples were taken and sent to Manila for examination.
They feared then, he said, that the pigs were afflicted by hog cholera which raged in Nueva Ecija and other places last year.
He said the trader, whose name he could no longer recall, could not say in what places in Nueva Ecija he bought the pigs. The trader, he added, was just passing thru Barangay Bantug here when accosted by the team. None was bought from that barangay, he added.
Santos said that his municipal veterinarian reported to him that a round of inspection in two piggery farms and several backyard piggery projects here conducted last November proved negative of any finding of serious disease or ailment among the pigs being raised here for meat and for hog reproduction.
Municipal secretary Danilo Salazar, who is also acting marketing supervisor here, said that the sales of pork here continued to rise notwithstanding report about the findings of Ebola virus to have been found in commercial and backyard piggery farms in certain places in Central Luzon and Pangasinan provinces.
“The average number of pigs being slaughtered here everyday is from 35 to 40 heads,” Salazar said. “We have assured our buying public here that we are undertaking the necessary precautions in order to ensure that contaminated-free pork is sold to consumers,” he added.
Salazar said that the sales of pork last year compared to the current sales in the public market was dismal as only three to five pigs then were being slaughtered daily. This was because of the prevalence of hog cholera then which affected the piggery business not only in Central Luzon but other provinces.
