Police find illegal slaughterhouse

Police and inspectors discovered illegally processed meat in Pingtung City (屏東市) yesterday and suspect that hundreds of carcasses of diseased pigs might have been butchered and distributed to markets, threatening the health of consumers.

Pingtung police said they had found Lin Ching-wen (林清文), a local butcher, processing unlicensed pork, possibly sourced from sick or dead hogs.

Huang Chen-nung (黃振農), director-general of the local agricultural bureau said that it had not been confirmed yet whether or not the pork was safe.

Police said Lin was hired by Hou Yi-yong (侯義勇) to process pig carcasses. They said they had discovered that an average of 10 pigs from unlicensed abattoirs have been processed and sold to markets every day since last December.

Uncertified meat found in freezers at the underground slaughterhouse has been trucked to a local factory to be processed as fodder or fertilizer.

"We have already transported four trucks of the meat chops found in the freezers of a factory awaiting further processing. They weighed about 60 tonnes altogether," said an inspector surnamed Hsu.

The case is now being transferred to the local prosecutors' office.

Li Chia-fung (李佳芳) from the local health bureau, said meat products from the carcasses diseased pigs can threaten human health.

"While the bacteria they carry can be killed during the cooking process, the toxins from the rotten carcasses can accumulate in the human body," she said.

According to regulations, those dealing in the meat will not be jailed unless evidence is found that confirms sick pigs were the origin of the product.

Sale of pork without a license, however, carries fines of between NT$100,000 to NT$500,000.

Li said pork that is guaranteed as sanitary can be distributed from an uncertified slaughterhouse. Vets contracted by the agricultural bureau are responsible for the inspection of the porkers. Only those that are healthy can earn benchmarks for quality approval.

The Council of Agriculture (COA, 農委會), which has replaced the Department of Health (DOH, 衛生署) as regulator of sanitary conditions at slaughterhouses since last June, yesterday warned consumers against purchasing pork from unlicensed slaughterhouses.

Watson Sung (宋華聰), deputy director-general of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said customers should check if the pork they buy bears marks of approval given by the bureau.

The marks serve as an indicator that the meat comes from a legal slaughterhouse and has been cleared of disease.

Sung said the council will continue to wipe out underground abattoirs that are common everywhere on the island except in Taipei City.

He said the sale of unsanitary pork from illegal slaughterhouses is especially serious in the southern counties.