With the high demand for processed meat products for the holidays, Quezon City authorities asked local hog raisers on Monday to maintain hygiene in their piggeries and surroundings to ensure the safety and cleanliness of their products.

Councilor Candy “Eden’’ Medina of the city’s second district told the owners of piggeries, including backyard hog raisers, to regularly disinfect their corals, cages and enclosures in their compounds to prevent the spread of  infectious diseases.

She issued the reminder as the bulk of the local hog raisers and piggeries are located in the city’s second district particularly in the areas of Payatas, Novaliches, Tandang Sora, and Commonwealth.

“I just want to be assured that the hams, bacons, hotdogs and other processed meats sold in the market are safe for human consumption. Alam naman natin ang local tradition tuwing sasabit ang Kapaskuhan na maraming handaan at okasyon. Gusto ko lang masiguro na ligtas kainin ang mga handa sa “noche buena’’ at “media noche,’’ Medina said.

Earlier, Quezon City veterinarian Dr. Anna Marie Cabel appealed to the backyard hog raisers in the city to exercise their patriotism by being cooperative, no matter how inconvenient it maybe, to the government’s call in promoting sanitation and cleanliness in the piggeries.

She stressed that supporting the government’s cause on the fight against the spread of communicable diseases in animals is beneficial to the public in the long run as it prevents human beings from acquiring any infectious ailments from the animals.

With the alarming death toll caused by swine flu virus in Mexico, Canada, and the United States, the Department of Health (DoH) National Epidemiology Center has promoted individual hand and respiratory hygiene for persons in direct contact or close proximity to pigs and animal farms.

Cabel said that the local health department has regularly provided backyard hog raisers with free vaccination for their animals even before the occurrence of the recent swine flu epidemic in Mexico, United States and Canada.

The DoH said pigs with the swine influenza virus exhibit sudden fever, depression, barking or coughing, discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, and breathing difficulties.

However, government doctors clarified that the virus is not transmitted through food, assuring the public that pork and other pork products are safe to eat if properly cooked and handled with the recommended cooking internal temperature of 70 degrees Celsius or 160 degrees Fahrenheit.