Another sample taken from a Chinese meat product intercepted by customs officials has tested positive for African swine fever, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday, as it reaffirmed its resolve to prevent the virus from entering Taiwan.
The sample in question came from confiscated yanpi (燕皮), a type of wonton wrapper made from pork that is popular in China’s Fujian Province, COA Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) said.
Among 602 Chinese meat products sent for testing, it was the seventh sample confirmed to contain the virus, he said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Port of Taichung officials on Sunday intercepted a Taiwanese traveling from Fujian by ship, Huang said, adding that the yanpi was just one of the illegal products they were carrying.
The other six samples that tested positive for the virus were confiscated from Oct. 31 to Thursday, and came from sausages produced in China’s Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Sichuan provinces, as well as Macau, council data showed.
Although China as of yesterday was said to have reported 99 cases of African swine fever across 23 provinces, the number seems “meaningless,” given that China tends to conceal facts, Huang said, adding that the actual number might be 100 times more.
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
First-time offenders caught with pork from virus-infected areas face a fine of NT$200,000 (US$6,494), while those who are repeat offenders face a maximum fine of NT$1 million, the council said.
No Europeans, Americans or Japanese have been caught carrying illegal meat products, said Huang, who earlier this week told reporters that most of those caught have been Chinese or Vietnamese spouses traveling on Republic of China (Taiwan) passports.
“Eating Chinese meat products is not good for one’s health” as the products could be made of meat cut from virus-infected pigs, he said.
The council has previously said that the virus, although deadly for pigs, cannot affect humans.
The council earlier this month said that Taiwan would join the World Organization for Animal Health’s East Asian task force for combating the spread of the disease and that the first meeting could be scheduled “at the beginning of next year.”
The council has not yet received any notice confirming the meeting’s venue and time, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Deputy Director-General Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) said.
However, the meeting would be an important occasion for officials from Taiwan and other Asian countries to exchange information about the disease, she added.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS