Smuggled meat served in a Chinese restaurant is being investigated as the most likely source of Britain's foot-and-mouth epidemic, the Times newspaper reported yesterday.
Infected meat, believed to have been imported illegally from Asia, went to the unnamed restaurant in the northeast of the country and the waste ended up in pigswill fed to pigs at Heddon-on-the-Wall in Northumberland, Agriculture Minister Nick Brown was set to tell parliament yesterday, the paper reported.
An official report on the source of the outbreak, to be published yesterday, also found that the spread of the disease was so marked because it lay undetected in sheep for two to three weeks before the first case was spotted when pigs from a farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall were taken to an Essex abattoir for slaughter.
The paper said it was told that officials were alerted to possible illegal activity after a container of illegal meat, clearly labeled for a Chinese restaurant, was found hidden inside a load of household goods after confirmation of the first cases of foot-and-mouth.
Officials are convinced that they are on the trail of a meat smuggling operation that could have been going on for months and are urgently verifying how waste food from Chinese restaurants was used as pigswill.
The link with Asia fits in with strain of the virus identified in the infected livestock.
Professor Alex Donaldson, of the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright, Surrey, said on Friday that the strain was common in China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Southeast Asia and had probably come from the Middle or Far East. Meat that comes from any region with foot-and-mouth disease is banned from being imported into Britain.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Fung-wong (鳳凰) as it threatened vessels operating in waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Bashi Channel and south of the Taiwan Strait. A land alert is expected to be announced some time between late last night and early this morning, the CWA said. As of press time last night, Taoyuan, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties had declared today a typhoon day, canceling work and classes. Except for a few select districts in Taipei and New Taipei City, all other areas and city
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