Quarantine authorities yesterday vowed to step up border inspections in the wake of information that a batch of Canadian pork was being transshipped to Taiwan from Vietnam — a foot and mouth disease (FMD)-infected country.
The transshipment, if allowed to enter Taiwan, would seriously threaten the nation’s listing as a FMD-free country, observers said. Taiwan is currently listed by the World Organization for Animal Health as an “FMD-free country with vaccination.”
Pan Lien-chou (潘連周), president of the Swine Association, said that the 3,000 tonne shipment of fresh Canadian pork was denied entry for an unknown reason when it arrived in Vietnam around two months ago.
To reduce its losses, the Vietnamese importer sold the pork to a Taiwanese importer at a discount price, Pan said.
Watson Sun (宋華聰), director-general of the Council of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, confirmed that he had obtained information on the pork on Thursday and had also received a similar report from Pan.
“The bureau has told officials at every port of entry to carefully examine every batch of meat imported and to notify customs authorities to block any attempt to smuggle the pork into Taiwan,” he said.
Sun said that Taiwan imposes a strict ban on fresh meat imports from FMD-infected countries, including imports from FMD-free countries that have stopped over in FMD-infected countries en route to Taiwan. Officials check receipts to determine if imports have stopped in FMD-infected countries and also examine package seals to ensure they have not been tampered with, he said.
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