The Department of Agriculture wants the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture to send another team of quarantine officials to evaluate the quality of Philippine pork, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala told reporters in an interview today.

"We’ve been seeking access to Korea’s fresh meat market even before the Philippines was accredited as a foot-and-mouth disease-free country without vaccination," said Mr Alcala.

According to GMA News, the Agriculture Department also gave South Korea the green light to export paprika or ground bell peppers to the Philippine in the first quarter of 2012.

With the plan to sell meat and poultry products overseas, the Philippine government has made sure that investments to upgrade abattoirs in place for Triple A classification.

The Philippines is also eyeing to sell pork to Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East — with overseas Filipino workers as the primary market.

The Ebola virus outbreak in several farms in Pandi, Bulacan in 2009 spoiled the country’s first bid to export 50,000 metric tons of pork to Singapore.

The day that the Matutum Meat Packing Corp. was to make an inaugural shipment of pork and pork products to Singapore, the Agriculture and Health Departments issued statements confirming the presence of the virus in the country.