Pingtung county: Taiwan has resumed pork exports after regaining self-certification as free of three major swine diseases, with the first shipment of processed pork products bound for Singapore later this month. Processed meat producer Taiwan Farm Industry Co. (T-HAM) held a container-sealing ceremony in Pingtung County on Thursday to mark the occasion.

According to Focus Taiwan, the shipment consists of 500 cartons, or 10,000 packs, of the company's original-flavor Taiwanese pork sausages, which are scheduled to arrive in Singapore on June 25 and go on sale at Sheng Siong supermarkets, T-HAM Chairman Chang Hua-hsin said. Chang mentioned that the company will initially focus on exporting sausages before expanding to products such as braised pork belly and pork meatballs, with fresh pork exports remaining a longer-term goal.

The resumption comes after Taiwan regained self-certification in April as free of foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever (ASF), and classical swine fever, following authorities' containment of an ASF outbreak reported last October. Deputy Agriculture Minister Tu Wen-jane described the achievement as rare globally, noting that both Singapore and the Philippines accepted Taiwan's export applications without dispatching inspection teams, a sign of confidence in Taiwan's disease-control and food safety systems.

Pingtung County Deputy Magistrate Huang Kuo-jung credited the Singapore partnership in part to agricultural promotion efforts by Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an during his tenure as Pingtung magistrate, and suggested that Singapore's large ethnic Chinese consumer base could make it a gateway for Taiwanese food products into broader Southeast Asian markets.

T-HAM stated that the deal marks not only the return of Taiwanese processed pork to international markets, but also the introduction of the island's signature pork products to Singaporean households.