RUSSIA is set to import crocodile meat from the Philippines, after a final hurdle on sanitary inspection protocol was approved, its Filipino exporter said, confirming a report by the Itar-Tass news agency.
A Coral Agri-Ventures Farm Inc. (Cavfi) executive confirmed the development to the Businessmirror in a telephone interview on Wednesday. Cavfi was added to a list of companies allowed to supply food to Russia’s huge meat market, according to the Russian news agency’s report last week.
“Its [inclusion on the list] is still new actually, and there are many things to do yet,” Careen Belo-Solco, Cavfi manager, on Wednesday.
Belo-Solco also declined to provide details when asked on Cavfi’s capacity in terms of the volume of crocodile meat the company would export to Russia.
Providing details may have negative effects, she said.
The Itar-Tass report said Cavfi, local producer of frozen crocodile meat, was added on the list of importers approved by the veterinary-and sanitary-inspection agency Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s food-safety watchdog.
The report by Tass also quoted that after Russia banned Western food imports in response to sanctions against Moscow for its policies on Ukraine, Russian officials have also visited India to consider imports of buffalo meat after dismissing it for years over quality concerns.
Last year Filipino crocodile-meat producers have asked the Department of Agriculture (DA) for assistance in accessing the Russian and Chinese markets, where the exotic meat is slowly being accepted as a regular fare.
Itar-Tass’s report on October 9 said Russia’s food-safety watchdog has approved the import of crocodile meat from the Philippines. Corresponding documents Businessmirror secured from the DA confirmed the Itar-Tass report.
Also last year, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Y. Alcala visited Cavfi’s crocodile breeding and processing facility in Morong, Rizal.
Alcala told reporters that time managers of the farm asked for the DA’s assistance in exporting crocodile meat.
That time, “Russia and China had already expressed interest to import crocodile meat for food, and they are asking us to send for samples,” Solco said, adding, “unfortunately, Cavfi does not know how to proceed,” Solco said.
She added: “Since our product is considered exotic, we don’t know what papers are needed or procedures to undertake. We really wanted to export and there is demand, but we just don’t know how to go on with it, that’s why we need the help of the government.”
Aside from crocodile skin, Cavfi is venturing in crocodile-meat production as food. Already, the company supplies some 50 kilos of raw meat to different restaurants in Metro Manila.
The volume of order is growing every month, according to Solco.
A kilo of raw crocodile meat sells between P500 and P700.
“Aside from raw meat, we are also selling preprocessed meat, like sisig, for those who do not know how to prepare the exotic meat,” Solco said.
As a wildlife species, the conservation of crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) is under purview of the Department of Natural Resources (DENR).
It is unclear, however, under which agency of the government falls the responsibility of approving the export of crocodile meat, which, for all practical purposes, can be considered as a livestock.
While crocodiles live in saltwater in the Indo-Pacific areas, they are mostly found in freshwater areas in the Philippines.
Russia’s official daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta recently published an article extolling the culinary qualities of meats that have otherwise remained exotic for the vast majority of the country’s population.
Titled “Grilled Crocodiles and Hippos on a Skewer,” the article also reviewed the taste of kangaroo, shark and ostrich meats, the report said.