Hog raisers in Western Visayas now supply pork to Metro Manila through the Pork-in-a-Box project of the Department of Agriculture, the DA 6 regional office said.

OIC-Regional Executive Director Larry Nacionales said that in Panay, slaughtered hogs from the “AA” abattoir in Passi City are transported to the Pontevedra Meat Cutting Facility in Capiz where the cut meat is stored and chilled in a modern blast freezing and packing equipment.

After that, the meat is transported through reefer vans via roll on-roll off or nautical highway system to selling points across Metro Manila. This practice is also seen to reduce the incidence of animal diseases because the transport and shipment of live animals will be minimized.

The "Pork in a Box" program has been relaunched by the DA last year to improve accessibility of safe and hygienic pork products, and recently it has been launched in Panay.

Nacionales said meat products sold under the Pork-in-a-box project are cheaper by P5 to P10 per kilo than the prevailing prices in regular retail outlets.

Hog growers in Panay have committed to deliver 15 tons of pork per week under the project, he said.

Initially, after the project was launched, a shipment of 13 tons or 631 cases of pork was delivered from Passi City by Mc Carry Trading Corp. and stored at the storage are in Capiz before these were distributed to supermarkets, groceries, meat processing plants, and selected bagsakan centers or drop-off points in Metro Manila.

National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. president, Albert R.T. Lim, had earlier said hog farmers are glad the DA has strengthened the “Pork-in-a Box” program to enable them to take part in the supply chain and provide the consumers easy access to quality pork cuts at a lower price.*NLG

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