Chunghwa Post Chairman Wei Chien-hung (魏建宏) yesterday said that the company on Wednesday intercepted 25 packages containing processed meat products from China and would work with quarantine officials to ensure that no such products from areas affected by African swine fever would enter the country.
Wei made the statement at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which was reviewing the company’s budget for fiscal year 2019.
Lawmakers asked how the company has been assisting quarantine officials to block imports of processed meat products following the outbreak of the disease in China.
The products intercepted on Wednesday were either returned to the sender or destroyed at the port of entry, Wei said.
So far, nobody has been fined for receiving packages containing meat products from China, he said.
Prior to Wednesday, the postal company intercepted 10 to 20 packages containing meat products per day, he said.
Sniffer dogs have been dispatched to detect such packages, Chunghwa Post said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bih-khim (蕭美琴) said that a netizen had complained that some flights from Hong Kong were serving rice with pork chops.
Hsiao asked how airports should be handling leftovers from meal and whether the government could require international flights entering the nation to not serve pork, particularly flights from China.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-jong (祁文中) said that leftovers are destroyed.
“Flight carriers to and from areas affected by African swine fever should not be serving pork,” Chi said. “As to whether the government can ask international flights to stop serving pork, we would ask the Civil Aeronautics Administration [CAA] to gather information on the matter.”
Caterers for in-flight meals should follow the regulations laid out by the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, the CAA said, adding that legitimate environmental technology companies should handle leftovers after gaining the approval of local environmental authorities.
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