PAGADIAN CITY, October 19 (PIA) -- National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) regional director Dr. Arturo De Jesus Jr. has declared local meat inspectors as “unsung heroes” in the region during the stakeholders and meat inspectors’ forum held on Tuesday.
De Jesus said he recognized the significant contributions of local meat inspectors (LMIs) in society as they are the ones who safeguard the meat and assure the public that such products are fit for human consumption.
“You are the country’s unsung heroes who are at the forefront in food defense and unnoticed in the early morning hours when everybody is still sleeping, you are carefully doing meat inspection works to ensure that only healthy, clean and safe meat are passed for food to consumers,” he said.
The regional director said LMIs are civil servants who do not observe holidays and have to work alone, emphasizing that there are no alternate persons to replace them in times of illnesses or emergencies.
“They sacrifice so much and even work more than 8 hours just to make sure that we have clean and safe meat,” De Jesus added.
Levid Torres, who has worked as meat inspector at the City Veterinary Office for seven years, lauded De Jesus for noticing their devotion and sacrifices in the performance of their duties.
Torres recalled that he was not appreciative of the nature of his work during his first day. According to him, they had to perform ante- and post-mortem examination to slaughtered animals at 10 p.m. and they had to leave at 6:00 a.m. to check them for human consumption.
“Wala ko maanad nga magmata sa gabii ug kaadlawon apan sa kadugayon na sa akong trabaho, akong na natun-an nga himoon kini (I am not used to be awake at night until early morning but because of the long years in service I learned to do it.), Torres said.
Another meat inspector, Luciano Gaviola, who has been one for 17 years in Margosatubig said as civil servants it is their duty to safeguard the meat and ensure that the meat inspection code will be properly observed by meat vendors.
The forum was part of the 39th National Meat Inspection Service Week which is celebrated on October 17-21 with the theme “Matatag na Batas, Ligtas na Karne ang Katumbas.” (