Two women returning from visits to China were yesterday each fined NT$200,000 (US$6,479) after being caught with pork products, customs officers said.
The first was a 50-year-old Chinese woman who was caught with 15 packs of pork jerky weighing a total of 200g in her luggage after she arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport from Fuzhou.
She became the first person to be fined NT$200,000 for smuggling meat products into Taiwan after the Council of Agriculture on Monday announced that fines had been raised to between NT$50,000 and NT$200,000 for first-time offenders and between NT$500,000 and NT$1 million for repeat offenders to prevent African swine fever from spreading to the nation.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The woman, who is married to a Taiwanese man, spent about 20 yuan (US$2.90) to purchase the 15 packs of pork jerky in China while visiting relatives, the officers said.
She did not declare the pork jerky and tried to pass through the expedited clearance lane before she was caught, they added.
Despite announcements on the airplane and signs at the airport, the officers cited the woman as saying that she was unaware of the new regulations and was astonished to learn that pork jerky was banned from entering Taiwan.
The second offender, also a Chinese woman married to a Taiwanese man, was caught carrying 580g of sausages, which she also did not declare at customs.
The increased fines apply to people importing meat into Taiwan from areas that have been affected by African swine fever over the past three years, including China, Hong Kong, Macau, Russia and some European countries.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged China to not conceal the facts about the spread of the disease there and called for timely information about the outbreak to be provided.
Taiwan cannot afford to be kept in the dark about the African swine fever outbreak, she said, adding that the Chinese government must provide Taiwan with real-time information about the spread of the disease.
The council yesterday launched a center to better coordinate pre-emptive measures against an outbreak of the disease in Taiwan.
Pandemics “should be treated as a combat situation” and there should be no gaps in the prevention network, Premier William Lai (賴清德) said.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese