The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) again classified Taiwan as free from African swine fever (ASF), returning Taiwan to its status as the only country in Asia to be free of all three major swine diseases, the Ministry of Agriculture said today.
A case of African swine fever broke out on a farm in Wuci District (梧棲), Taichung, on Oct. 21 last year.
Authorities implemented intensive containment efforts, banning the transport and slaughter of pigs for 15 days to confine the outbreak to a single site and completing disinfection and cleanup within one month.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Taiwan reapplied to the WOAH for its ASF-free status on Feb. 21.
Although the review process was estimated to take six months, approval was granted after a little more than one month, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency said.
Taiwan thoroughly reviewed all application documents, and the WOAH only requested additional documents once, hastening the process, agency Deputy Director Fu Hsueh-li (傅學理)
Taiwan’s representative office in France also played a key role, Fu said.
The achievement marks Taiwan as the only country in the world to regain ASF-free status after an outbreak in domestic pigs, he said.
The nation also regained its status as the only country in Asia to be free of all three major swine diseases: ASF, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, he added.
With Taiwan’s return to disease-free status, pork exports to countries that previously imported Taiwanese pork such as Singapore and the Philippines are expected to resume within the latter half of the year, Fu said.
Negotiations with these countries, as well as Japan and Malaysia regarding pork exports would continue, he added.
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