The Department of Agriculture (DA) reported on Tuesday that it had confiscated a total of P35 million worth of smuggled frozen agricultural products during an operation in Meycauayan, Bulacan.
In a statement issued by the DA, some spoiled frozen products, including pork feet, lamb, and chicken skin, were detected inside two makeshift cold storage facilities.
According to the local authorities, they discovered the banned frozen meat products from Germany and India, along with the reboxing of the spoiled meat evidence.
The DA conducted a thorough investigation to dig deeper into the reboxing operations.
Asec. The DA-IE's James Layug highlighted that the DA ensures that the storage warehouses are shut down and that the owners are held accountable for trafficking illicit agricultural commodities.
Food safety is still a big priority for the DA, and selling smuggled meat and fishery goods in the market endangers public health.
Meanwhile, the District Attorney will charge those involved with breaking the Food Safety Act of 2013 and the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
The DA stated that one of its core concerns is food safety and that selling smuggled meat and fishery goods in the market endangers public health.
The anti-agricultural smuggling law only applies to sugar, corn, pork, chicken, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables in their raw state or after modest market preparation or preservation methods.
On the other hand, the Food Safety Act seeks to strengthen the country's food safety regulatory system in order to safeguard the public from food-borne and water-borne illnesses, as well as unsanitary, unwholesome, misbranded, or adulterated goods, among other things.
