THE CITY Veterinarian’s Office (CVO) assured that there are siomai and siopao products made out of dog meat.
CVO head Dr. Corazon Sepulveda attributed the zero observation to the regular and strict meat inspection of the city to flag down and deny entry of illegal sellers and distributors.
“We have antemortem and post-mortem inspection, we are very proactive on that [inspection], we do not wait for problems to be reported,” Sepulveda said during the iSpeak media forum on Thursday, March 7.
Fifteen checkpoints are installed in strategic areas in the city to assess entry of livestock and meat products. Meat carcasses and “hot meat” or illegally slaughtered are confiscated.
“Hot meat is the carcass or parts of carcass or food animals which were slaughtered from unregistered/unaccredited meat establishments and have not undergone the required inspection,” Sec. 1 Republic Act 10536 reads.
This, following a Facebook post reporting siomai products and other street foods in Tagum City allegedly sourced from dog meat, which caused panic among Tagumenyos.
The Tagum City Health Office warned residents of sharing unverified information on social media.
As of this writing, there have been no latest updates from Tagum CHO as the city mayor already coordinated with the National Bureau of Investigation- Southern Mindanao to trace the origin of the said Facebook post.
Meanwhile, Sepulveda said they did not receive a message of request for coordination from Tagum CH, as of March 7.
“I can vouch that there has been no manufacture of food products made of dog meat, and if there is, it will be subject to investigation,” the official said.
RA 10536, an act amending R.A. 9296 or the “Meat Inspection Code of the Philippines” states that violation of any provisions of the act “or shall sell, transport, offer or receive for sale or transportation in commerce hot meat as herein defined, upon conviction,” will be punished of six to 12 years imprisonment or a fine of P100,000 to P1-million.
