The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday introduced more quarantine measures against African swine fever, after an epidemic in China was found to be moving southward from its northeast to its central regions earlier this week.
The disease is not transmittable to humans, but is highly infectious to pigs and no medication or vaccine has been developed, posing a serious threat to the pork industry, the bureau said, calling on people not to import pork from areas that have seen cases.
Since the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Aug. 3 issued a second-level warning over an outbreak on a farm in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, the council has started implementing quarantine measures at Taiwan’s borders.
On Tuesday, a second case was reported in China, after 30 of 260 pigs transported from Heilongjiang Province died in a slaughterhouse of a food processing company in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.
On Thursday, the 30 pigs were confirmed to have died of African swine fever, the ministry said on the same day, but added that the epidemic was already under control.
The council yesterday convened a meeting with experts to discuss further measures to prevent a local outbreak of the disease.
The fever is spreading quickly in China, as it has moved southward from Shenyang to Zhengzhou, hitting four provinces along the way, COA Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Deputy Director-General Shih Tai-hua (施泰華) said after the meeting.
While no cases have been reported in Taiwan, the bureau would step up preventive measures, Shih added.
In addition to food waste produced on aircraft, the bureau would also check leftovers produced by cruise ships and fishing boats, and ensure that they are destroyed, the bureau said, adding that the virus can survive in refrigerated pork for 100 days, frozen pork for up to 1,000 days and farmhouses for a month.
The bureau would also step up sterilization measures for farmers returning from China and increase checks on goods carried by visitors entering Kinmen from China, it said.
Animal fodder imported from China or made with ingredients from China would be investigated as well, the bureau said, adding that hog farmers and veterinarians at slaughterhouses would receive training about disease prevention.
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