Processors appeal to halt buffalo meat importation ban from India

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The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) seeks the reversal of an order issued by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) that prohibits the importation of buffalo meat from three states in India as it could affect the production of canned goods by early next year.

“The [sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance] ban will leave us with virtually no raw material inventory to process into canned goods by then,” Pampi president Felix Tiukinhoy Jr. and Pampi vice president Jerome Ong said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.

“We have IBM (Indian buffalo meat) raw materials that have been contracted and are ready for shipment from those states to meet our production requirements in January and February next year,” the group said.

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The Pampi, an organization comprised mainly of manufacturers of processed meats and suppliers from allied industries, requested the agriculture chief to conduct “a circumspect and more thorough review” to avoid compromising the interests of the industry and ensure food security.

“Pending the outcome of such review, we respectfully suggest that the status quo ante be maintained,” it added.

The group wrote a letter to Tiu Laurel after the BAI prohibited the issuance of SPSIC to meat processors to import Indian buffalo meat from Bihar, Maharashtra and Telangana in India.

The issuance stemmed from the findings of a recent DA inspection mission of foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in three Indian states last year.

The Pampi said the import ban on three Indian areas “cannot be rationally sustained” without barring the entry of Indian buffalo meat originating from Uttar Pradesh, another Indian state that has been on the DA ban list since 2020 because of FMD.

“This is because the state of Uttar Pradesh, where additional plants are being recommended for accreditation, had a major FMD outbreak in cattle in March this year,” they said.

Likewise, they argued the importation ban on Bihar, Maharashtra and Telangana “will set a disastrous precedent as it will result in our industry losing India as the only source of buffalo meat raw material.”

The Pampi said they have been sourcing Indian buffalo meat, a raw material for meat processing such as corned beef, hotdogs and sausages, from the above-mentioned states, notably Maharashtra and Telangana since 1994 and it never caused any FMD issue for the local livestock population.

Furthermore, it said there has not been any reported case of transmission of this virus from Indian buffalo meat as both DA-accredited suppliers and meat processors have been following local and global standards for importing fresh meat of bovines from countries or zones infected with foot-and-mouth disease virus.