Frozen meat safe indefinitely—MITA

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Meat Importers and Traders Association Inc. scored on Wednesday, the “unscientific view” that imported frozen meat, even past the recommended date of consumption, would not be safe for eating.

Citing regulatory and industry practice in the United States, the MITA said that safety problems would arise from improper handling of the meat and people should not immediately worry based only on “use by” or “sell by” dates.

The group was reacting to warnings made by the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) about expired imported meat being sold in local markets, especially with discrepancies in data from the customs bureau and the meat quarantine agency.

Sinag, which includes among its members the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI), said some 5.6 million kilos of imported pork might have entered the country without going through quarantine inspections.

Data from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) show that the agency released 121.6 million kilos of imported pork during the first semester of this year while data from Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) show that 116 million kilos passed through quarantine inspections.

Also, Sinag chair Rosendo So said some importers brought in frozen meat near their expiration dates to get them at cheaper prices.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, MITA president Jesus C. Cham quotes the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service as stating that “once a perishable product is frozen, it does not matter if the date expires because foods kept frozen continuously are safe indefinitely.”

“This is established and accepted science acknowledged by the Codex Alimentarius Commission – the international food safety organization to which the Philippines belongs,” Cham said.

“If frozen meat is not safe, then we should see people falling ill after eating hamburgers since all the patties come from frozen beef,” he added.

But in an interview, Sinag chair So asked this question: If expiry dates are not essential, why are they included in all import requirements and quarantine inspection by all countries at all ports of entry?

“If expiry dates are not important, why is the price of meat products that are about to expire much lower”” So said. “And we assume that these 5.6 million kilos that deliberately did not pass quarantine inspection are expired or of questionable origin.”

The MITA president said it was unlikely that the 5.6 million kilos did not pass quarantine.

“Nonetheless, in the spirit of transparency, we urge the BAI to reconcile its figures with those of the BOC.”

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