DA confirms ASF in QC supermarket meat display
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said Friday it has confirmed a case of African Swine Fever (ASF) in a Quezon City meat dealer’s produce chiller.
It identified the dealer as North Star Meat Merchants, Inc., which has operations at the Cherry Congressional grocery in Quezon City.
Mr. Dar said the Bulacan-based meat company has since been sanctioned and the Quezon City government has seized all the pork displayed in the chiller.
“The meat found in the supermarket was found positive (for ASF), so with that we sent a notice of closure earlier to North Star, then the NMIS (National Meat Inspection Service) continued its evaluation in the company…,” he said.
Asked to comment, the operator of the grocery said it is now doing a “thorough inventory check and (is) asking our supplier to explain to us and the authorities concerned” how the chiller came to contain contaminated meat. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
