What’s the one side dish you absolutely can’t live without when eating white porridge?
There’s a myriad to choose from when you decide on what dish would compliment your meal, really – pork floss, stewed peanuts, pickles, fried fish, salted boiled egg…the list goes on and on. You may even choose to have it with kimchi, although technically that’s Korean and you were only influenced into eating it after binge-watching so many K-dramas.
Of course, one of the most popular side dishes that compliment the plain white porridge would be luncheon meat, the salty processed pork patty that’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Mmmmm.
There are just as many choices of luncheon meat brands for you to choose from as well – from the classic American SPAM to Tulip, or imported brands from China and Hong Kong.
But I’d just offer you one piece of advice now – when you’re racking your brain on which brand of luncheon meat to pick, don’t choose anything from Hong Kong or ask someone to bring it back for you from there.
Why? Because it’s illegal in Singapore now. And dangerous.
Contaminated Luncheon Meat Found
Apparently, a traveller entering the Philippines via the Clark International Airport in Pampanga province had their cans of luncheon meat confiscated on 25 March.
The meat was found to have tested positive for the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus, a disease that is highly contagious among pigs.
Luckily, it doesn’t infect humans, so you can breathe that sigh of relief now if you were holding it. If properly treated with heat in the processing of these meat products, the virus can be rendered inactive, which means then it will not be able to infect animals.
Pampanga’s agriculture secretary Manny Pinol posted an announcement on Facebook regarding the incident with photos of the canned meat in question, which was of the Sky Dragon brand, hailing from Hong Kong.
Singapore Has Banned It Too
Since being safe is better than being sorry, the Singapore Food Authority (SFA) has also stated that it’s illegal to import this brand of luncheon meat for it’s been suspended, as well as other brands and pork-related products that come from affected regions.
The African Swine Fever has actually been on a widespread outbreak worldwide, and has already killed millions of pigs in China. This means that pork prices would spike up and affect the Chinese economy greatly.
“To mitigate the risk of incursion of African swine fever, SFA requires countries exporting raw pork to Singapore to be free from it,” they said on Tuesday, 18 June, adding that they are monitoring the worldwide situation.
SFA also said that Hong Kong is not an approved source of meat and meat products. Oof.
Only processed pork products that have been properly treated with heat to inactivate the African Swine Fever virus from approved brands can be imported into Singapore if they are from affected areas.
Generally, only SFA-accredited countries, establishments, and farms are allowed to have their meat products exported to Singapore. They still have to go through routine surveillance, inspection, sampling programmes and have to pass import requirements.
Do remember this and be careful the next time you’re indulging in some luncheon meat, especially if you’re in Hong Kong for some congee and dim sum.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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