Manila's smelly pork mystery

Friday, April 8, 2016

Warm weather has arrived and with it the savory scent of pork grilling on the barbecue.

For tropical Manila, warm weather is the norm and right now the smell of pork is very likely pungent, although not for the reason you'd think.

According to GlobalMeat.com, 165 containers of pork have been discovered abandoned in the Philippines capital's busy shipping docks.

For two years the 48-foot-long containers have been a smelly mystery resting on city-owned piers while their once-frozen contents melted. Officials have not released a country of origin, the report says, nor has a shipper claimed the stinking mess.

The auction and cargo disposal division of the Manila International Container Port Authority plans to deal with the situation.

Nevertheless, the Manila Bulletin reports in late February that at least one local official fears the estimated four million kilograms of pork will be sold into the local black market.

Roberto Salvacion, a Customs Intelligence and Investigations Service officer, told the Manila Bulletin the meat would either be buried or incinerated, a slow process because of the size of the port's rendering area.

As much as we all love pork that would be a barbecue to miss. BP