MEAT importers and traders warned of further delays in the release of imported pork in the market as the government imposed more stringent labeling procedures before the meat products hit the market.
The cautionary tone by the Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) comes after the country’s frozen pork inventory reached a new record-level of 77,000 metric tons (MT), with some of the imported pork barred from being released pending rectification of meat labels.
MITA President Jesus C. Cham said the latest National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) circular that added more bureaucratic layers to modification of deficient meat labels would certainly cause additional delays in the sale of imported pork in the market.
NMIS OIC-Executive Director Jocelyn A. Salvador issued MC 08-2021-024 that outlined the supplemental guidelines for the modification of non-compliant labels of imported meat.
Per the MC, importers of meat shipments held in abeyance by the government due to non-compliant meat labels must follow a six-step procedure that includes submitting a formal letter to concerned NMIS departments.
The letter of request to modify the meat labels must include a draft of the modified label and a letter or certification from the foreign meat establishment (FME)—the exporter of the meat products—indicating the missing label information such as, but not limited to, expiry dates.
The importers’ letter will be reviewed by the NMIS Meat Import Export Section (MIES) before being recommended to the Regional Technical Director (RTD) for approval. Once the request for modification is approved, the importer and NMIS will “mutually” agree on a date for the modification of the label that must be witnessed by a NMIS Plant Officer (PO).
“It just adds more layers of bureaucracy. And it is jeopardizing the country’s food security,” Cham told the BusinessMirror. “All these uncertainties will add up to further delays in our meat supply especially we still have shipments arriving that will be affected by this,” Cham added.
Cham said the industry’s suggestions was just to allow meat importers to apply the modified label containing the pertinent information being required by the NMIS.
Cham elaborated that the importers and traders have concerns with the details and formats being required by the NMIS for the meat labels such as the use of metric system for the weight of the goods and use of words for the production date.
“Why should the weight be in kilograms? Why not accept pounds? And why [should] the label for the packing date or manufacturing date be in a day, year, month format in alphabets. Why [are] numbers not allowed?” he said.
“There is no national legislation that the packing or manufacturing date should be in that format. What’s the big deal with that?” he added.
Cham also reiterated their concerns with the mandatory shelf life or expiry date label, pointing out that the system implemented by the competent authorities from the meat-exporting countries do not require the inclusion of such information on their products.
“And now they are requiring the FME to issue a certificate for deficiencies of label. They cannot say the FME has a deficiency because the Philippine government accepted the system being implemented by our trade partners,” he added.
The BusinessMirror received information that the meat labeling requirements of the government are among the reasons why frozen pork inventory, particularly imported ones, is continuously increasing and setting new record-levels. Of the 77,000-MT frozen pork inventory as of August 9, 75,000 MT were imported.
The BusinessMirror first reported that at least 2.5 million kilograms of imported meat products are currently being held in cold storage facilities pending resolution of the labeling issue. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/08/11/meat-labeling-rules-seen-affecting-food-supply/)
The BusinessMirror broke the story that strict enforcement of labeling requirements for meat products had gotten importers and traders worried that it may hinder the government’s program of flooding the market with cheaper imported pork. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/08/04/traders-worry-over-label-rules-for-meat-imports/)