Huge shipment of rotting pork found in Manila

25-Feb-2016 - Last updated on 25-Feb-2016 at 16:51 GMT

The rotting meat is likely to be incinerated by authorities in the Philippines

A total of 165 containers of rotting meat is sitting at a shipping port in the Philippines – and nobody has claimed responsibility for it.

The 48ft-long shipping containers are full of frozen pork, which has been slowly rotting for two years at the shipping port in Manila, the Philippines capital.

Local media reports said up to four million kilos of pork were being kept at the Manila International Container Port – the country’s largest shipping gateway, which welcomes over 20,000 ships every year.

Black market fears

A country of origin has not been disclosed for the 165 containers of pork, nor has a company responsible for shipping it or collecting it come forward.

Because the pork has been in the shipping port for such a long time, it’s unlikely to be fit for human consumption. Attention has now turned to how the sizable shipments can be disposed of sensibly.

“We have already acted on it, but we are still awaiting the approval of a waiver of charges from ICTSI [International Container Terminal Services Incorporated], PPA [Philippine Ports Authority] and respective shipping lines,” Gerardo Macatangay, head of the Manila International Container Port’s Auction and Cargo Disposal Division was quoted as saying in the Manila Bulletin.

While the four million kilos of pork, have to go, there are fears that the meat will be smuggled out and sold on the black market. However, with the authorities on the case, the meat is more likely to be incinerated or ground up and buried.