Taiwan authorities said Wednesday that the African swine fever (ASF) virus was found in four of 19 food items they had seized recently in a random check of grocery stores, restaurants and food stands nationwide.
The four infected items — two pork-filled mooncakes and two raw sausages that had been illegally imported, were found Monday in Changhua, Tainan and Kaohsiung, according to the Council of Agriculture (COA).
The total 19 banned items found included pork-filled moon cakes and 30.8 kilograms of other pork products, all imported from Vietnam, which were seized in Hsinchu and Taoyuan cities, respectively, the authorities said.
Since last week, Taiwan’s National Police Agency, National Immigration Agency (NIA), and local governments have been carrying out random checks of grocery stores, restaurants and other eateries that sell Southeast Asian meals and other food products.
The spot checks were launched after 71 kilograms of banned imported meat products from Vietnam were seized in New Taipei last week and were later found to contain the ASF virus.
Meanwhile, as of Wednesday, authorities had visited 3,607 of Taiwan’s 6,400 pig farms, to check whether the food waste being fed to the hogs contained Vietnamese pork products, according to the COA. Citing the Feed Control Act, COA chief Chen Chi-chung (???) said pig farmers are advised to cook any kitchen waste for at least an hour before feeding it to the animals, as that would kill off the ASF virus.
As part of the ASF prevention efforts, the Environmental Protection Administration on Wednesday ordered the removal of food waste bins from public areas such as night markets.
In Yunlin County, where farmers are not permitted to feed kitchen waste to their pigs, Magistrate Chang Li-shan (???) has issued a call for the central government to adopt the same policy.
Taiwan has been on high alert against ASF, for fear that the virus could cripple its high-value pig farming industry, and it maintains a ban on imports of pork products from countries where there have been ASF outbreaks, including Vietnam.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel