Meat products have tested positive for African swine fever on four more occasions, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday, after customs officials on Sunday seized 71kg of smuggled meat products from Vietnam, which tested positive.
The National Police Agency (NPA) subsequently found smuggled meat products being sold at 1,338 locations across 22 cities and counties.
Fifty-four items were tested after combing through 5,000 items along the supply chain, COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) told a news conference at 7pm yesterday.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Police Department via CNA
Four items tested positive, eight remain to be tested and two require further testing, he added.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Tainan branch yesterday found mooncakes in Yongkang (永康) and Madou (麻豆) districts that tested positive for the virus, but there are no signs that any had been sold, the branch said, adding that it has yet to look into which firms supplied the stores with the ingredients.
The NPA also reported that it confiscated 27kg of sausages and other meat products from a store near Taichung’s ASEAN Square because they were not labeled and their origins could not be traced.
The Taichung City Police Department said that it is also cracking down on international packages in case contaminated pork is delivered in the mail.
On Tuesday, it reported a Vietnamese woman who received a parcel from Vietnam with 1.8kg of ham, which is being tested for African swine fever, the department said.
Chen urged the public to report any businesses operating illegally, adding that the COA would provide rewards of up to NT$1.2 million (US$42,969).
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Administration yesterday ordered the removal of all road-side containers for household leftovers to prevent the virus from spreading.
It also urged the public not to throw meat products of unknown origin, uncooked meat or intestines into leftover containers, adding that they should instead be thrown in the trash and incinerated.
Leftovers must be boiled at more than 90°C for one hour before they are fed to pigs, the agency said.
Taiwan is on high alert, as African swine fever could cripple its valuable pig farming industry.
Additional reporting by Lo Chi
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