A NETWORK of food security advocates on Wednesday blamed the country’s trade policy that was adopted by the government over the last two decades as the reason why contaminated food such as melamine-laced milk from China has flooded the market.

In a statement, the Task Force Food Sovereignty (TFFS) said the inevitability of toxic food dumping in the country is a long-term effect of the trade liberalization strategy in early 1980s when the government decided to relax most of the country’s import controls.

The group is calling for a review of the country’s trade liberalization policy to ensure food safety and security.

This was aggravated when the Philippines joined the World Trade Organizations (WTO) in 1995, TFFS said.

Arze Glippo, TFFS lead convenor, said the Philippine  government’s unilateral import liberalization policy as well as its commitments to the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture and the Agreement on Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures all  facilitated the dumping of a wide array of imported food products into the country oftentimes without regard for food safety and quality.

“The melamine-contaminated milk scandal shows the vulnerability of the Philippines to toxic food because of its increasing reliance on food imports to feed the people.  This also shows the dangers in allowing corporations to take the helm of agriculture and food production with limited or no government regulation,” Glippo said.

According to Glippo, the increasing market power of transnational corporations which virtually control global food production, processing and trade in almost all essential food commodities including grains, milk, coffee and chocolates have allowed them the power to produce and source their raw materials from anywhere around the world, shift their production bases and sell their products, without much interference from national governments, thanks to the increasingly liberalized international trading regime made possible by the WTO.

“If food safety is to be ensured in the Philippines, the country’s trading policies must be reviewed and stringent measures on imported products, particularly food, installed,” Glippo said.

According to Glippo, in the light of heightened globalization and the increased risks of marketing and importing products which could harm human and even animal health and pose serious environmental damages, there is an increasing need to improve the country’s existing regulatory measures on imported products.

“We need to increase our capacity not only in crafting stronger or more effective regulatory measures but also in the installation of monitoring/risk assessment systems and facilities. Improving our policy regime, as well as the operational mechanisms for such policies, should also require the broadest participation of all stakeholders —producers groups, health-based institutions, and consumer groups,” she added.

The group issued the statement as the House Committee on Agriculture begins a series of hearings starting Tuesday on the toxic food imports from China.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Abraham Kahlil Mitra of the Second District of Palawan, is scheduled to tackle House Bills (HB) 3799, 4108, 4109 and House Resolution (HR) 806.

HR 806 authored by Mitra himself seeks an inquiry into trade and health policies on food importation while HB 3799 filed by Rep. Narciso D. Santiago III seeks to establish a comprehensive program to ensure the safety of food products intended for human consumption through the proper labeling of feed, meat and poultry products that contain genetically engineered material.

HB 4108 filed by Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Second District of Cagayan de Oro) seeks to regulate pesticide chemical residues in food by establishing tolerance standards for these. His other proposal HB 4109 seeks to establish a comprehensive program to ensure the safety of food products intended for human consumption.

Public health experts and officials are invited to the hearings and to enlighten lawmakers more on the government’s policies to promote food safety in the country.

Glippo said that the melamine scandal should serve as wake up call for the Arroyo government that it cannot rely on imports to attain food security. 

“The Philippines should revert to food self-sufficiency as a policy and strengthen local food production through support in agriculture and establishment of industries that will modernize agriculture and the food processing sector.  Our government must also review its foreign trade policy and commitments to the WTO and to revisit its absolute trade liberalization policy,” Glippo said. 

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