Smuggled carrots preserved with formalin – Sinag

By Yolanda Sotelo

ROSALES -If you want to buy locally produced carrots, buy the small ones with traces of mud and and have shoots and some leaves.
In contrast, the smuggled carrots are large, the shoots have been cut off, have been scrubbed clean, and are cold as they are stored in cold storage. But to preserve them, the carrots could have been immersed in formalin.
This is the advice of the Samahang Industriya ng Magsasaka, an umbrella organization of agriculture stakeholders, after they got information that the smuggled carrots from China and Netherlands have been entering the local markets.
Sinag President Rosendo So said according to the United Nations Commission on Trade, a total of 338,642 kilos were smuggled into the country in 2014. This year, a total of 120,000 kilos of carrots have already been smuggled to the Philippines.
UN Commission on Trade ecords showed that in 2014, 350,775 kilos of carrots were exported to the Philippines by China (341,175 kilos) and Netherlands ( 9,600 kilos).
But only 12,133 kilos were recorded by the Bureau of Customs , which showed that 338,642 kilos entered the ccountry through smuggling, So said.
He said the Sinag’s attention was shifted to carrots after Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan complained about proliferation of carrots in Divisoria market, which could have a negative effect on the province’s production.
The Sinag continuously monitors the entry of agricultural produce like rice, onions and garlic, and meat products.

“The people engaged in smuggling swings from one commodity to another, depending on what we are focused on,” So said.
He said the price of the imported/smuggled carrots and the locally produced ones are almost the same in the market, but the smuggled should cost lower because the smugglers do not pay tarriff.
The Sinag has also heard of reports on smuggling of brocolli and other vegetables but the group still has to collate data,
The group asked Filipino consumers to support the local farmers by buying their produce, “because it they do not plant anymore, it would be us who would suffer.”
The Sinag has asked the Senate committee of health chaired by Senator TJ Guingona, to look into the effects of human body when the persons eat vegetables preserved with formalin.
The committees on agriculture chaired by Senator Cynthia Villar and the committee on health, have agreed to conduct investigation on the issue, So said.