The government’s efforts to curb inflation by putting a price ceiling on pork and chicken may lead to another health crisis.

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said on Monday, February 15, that cheaper frozen pork is being sold in wet markets by vendors who are struggling to comply with the price ceiling.

Frozen pork that is displayed and not chilled in refrigeration facilities may be easily contaminated by bacteria and cause illnesses.

Frozen pork is also paler in color, quite sticky, and squishy, compared to meat of freshly slaughtered pigs.

SINAG chairman Rosendo So slammed the Department of Agriculture (DA) for allegedly being reluctant to arrest importers who are “brazenly dumping frozen pork into our wet markets.”

So also questioned Agriculture Secretary William Dar’s statement that frozen pork is better than fresh pork.

“‘Yung nasa frozen pork ay talagang ‘yun ay, in the future, mas maganda kaysa kinatay lang sa tabi-tabi,” Dar said in an interview with TeleRadyo.

(Frozen pork is, in the future, better than the ones slaughtered just anywhere.)

“Statements like that embolden importers and smugglers alike to dump frozen meat – chicken and pork – in our palengkes and talipapas (public markets),” said So.

In a statement, the DA said it prohibits the display or sale of frozen products in public markets without proper refrigeration equipment.

“The DA, through the National Meat Inspection Service, strives to improve the safe selling of meat, both frozen and fresh, in both public and private markets,” the agency said.

The DA also insisted that Dar did not say frozen pork is better than fresh pork.

President Rodrigo Duterte, through Executive Order No. 124 issued on February 1, limited the price of pork pigue to P270 per kilo, pork liempo to P300 per kilo, and dressed chicken for P160 per kilo for 60 days, as food inflation spiked amid the pandemic.

Local pork producers in Luzon are struggling to comply with the price ceiling, as costs mount due to African swine fever. – Rappler.com