The Department of Agriculture (DA) is crafting the guidelines for the inspection of foreign entities seeking to export agricultural products to the Philippines.
The DA issued Special Order No. 1884 creating an advisory group and a technical working group (TWG), which are tasked with formulating the standard guidelines for conducting an inspection mission.
Based on the DA special order, the advisory group will provide the policy direction, oversight and advice to the TWG in drafting the guidelines. It will be led by the agriculture secretary for livestock.
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It is tasked with evaluating the submitted draft guidelines to ensure its consistency and conformance with existing rules and regulations.
The TWG, to be headed by the National Meat Inspection Service’s executive director, will review the current rules and incorporate the technical inputs and recommendations from concerned agencies and the advisory group in preparing the draft.
Furthermore, the TWG will perform related tasks to facilitate the preparation and finalization of the draft guidelines.
Both groups will convene meetings when deemed necessary to come up with the policy, subject to the agriculture secretary’s approval.
The DA carries out an inspection mission to ensure that foreign applicants or individual establishments comply with the local animal health and food safety standards in trading agricultural commodities.
As part of inspection missions, the DA conducts onsite verification to assess food control systems and gauge the confidence of foreign applicants.
Recently, the DA announced that 34 Indian companies had been accredited to supply frozen buffalo meat to the country as part of efforts to expand the supply chain for Philippine food processors and potentially lower the price of corned beef.
However, 13 of them would not be able to export carabeef immediately since they are based in Bihar, Maharashtra and Telangana in India, where foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks have been reported.
The DA imposed an import restriction on Indian buffalo meat from three Indian states to prevent the entry of FMD-susceptible animals and protect the local livestock population.
Currently, the country imports about 40 percent of its carabeef requirements as domestic production cannot fully meet the local demand.