MANILA -- Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel "Manny" Piñol on Monday urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove from the shelves of retailers such pork products as Ma Ling that were manufactured August 2018 onwards as these may be contaminated with African swine fever (ASF).

Piñol stressed the effectivity of the ban on the entry of pork and pork products took effect since August 2018, and "any other products shipped in after that should be recalled from the market".

He, however, admitted that there is lack of coordination among concerned government agencies such as the Bureau of Customs, DA-Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in preventing the entry of imported canned meats or processed meats in the country.

"The problem here is lack of coordination among implementing government agencies. While FDA issued memorandum banning the sale of imported meat and meat products coming from infected countries, they still issue quarantine veterinary clearance," he said.

"We will make a clarification that once the DA issued a ban, the FDA could no longer issue license to transport," he added.

Piñol also appealed to meat importers to "voluntarily" refrain from importing from high-risk countries.

He defines high-risk countries as those which are contiguous to ASF-affected areas which may have the disease already but have not monitored or aware of it yet.

Instead, the DA chief urged meat importers to source out local products.

"We have buffer stock of meat for at least five months that are in the cold storage facilities," he said.

South China Morning Post earlier reported that about 1,500 fake "Ma Ling brand" cans that were seized could contain meat from diseased pigs mixed with internal organs.

According to Assistant Superintendent Chan Yiu-wah of the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, the meat could be probably made in unhygienic and illegal plants in Sichuan. (PNA)