PHO: Bocha pork, not ASF, causes illness

By November 11, 2019Headlines, News

SAFE TO EAT PORK”

THE provincial health office has reiterated that African Swine Fever (ASF) does not transfer or infect to humans and maintained that there is no such case reported in Pangasinan contrary to a recent claim.

Dr. Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman stressed there is no known case worldwide of humans getting afflicted with ASF. “It’s pig-to-pig.”

De Guzman made the clarification after a man claimed that a family of four members in Malasiqui (aged one, four, seven and 24 years old) fell ill allegedly because of ASF after they ate ‘pork adobo’.

She said the affected family members were rushed to Pangasinan Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City on Oct. 24 after they fell ill and attributed it to the pork they ate.

The attending doctor that investigated the case denied it was a case of ASF infection but as a result of the preparation and cooking of their ‘pork adobo’.

De Guzman said it turned out that the family had pork sinigang on Oct. 23 and nothing unusual happened to them. Then leftover was cooked into adobo which they ate on the 24th and that caused them to become ill.

“Sinigang has tomatoes that spoil the dish over a short period so definitely there was contamination there. Also, there could be a problem in the food handling,” she added.

“It has nothing to do with ASF,” she stressed and asserted it was a case of food poisoning.

De Guzman stressed that the ASF virus is not transferrable to human and does not cause sickness to humans.

She said the virus also dies after the pork believed to have the virus is cooked or boiled at very high temperature.

She said she and her companions ate in a restaurant that served mostly pork dishes and “Nothing bad happened to us!”

She said it’s different in the case of botcha (double dead meat).  She said it is not advisable anymore for humans to consume its meat.

“But to allude it at once that a person became ill because of ASF, that’s not true. There’s no such scientific evidence that a human can fall ill because of ASF,” she added (PhilStar Wire Service/ECV)

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