Travelers from Nepal are no longer permitted to bring pork or pork products into Taiwan, after the Southeast Asian nation on Wednesday reported its first case of African swine fever to the World Organisation for Animal Health, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday.
Contravening the ban, which was to start yesterday, would result in a NT$200,000 (US$6,718) fine for first-time offenders and a NT$1 million fine for repeat offenders, Chen said, adding that arrivals who are unable to pay the fines would be refused entry.
As the council tightens controls ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival next month, it said that repeat offenders or willful recipients of pork products shipped from areas affected by African swine fever are to face fines of at least NT$200,000.
Photo: Reuters
Previously, recipients of banned pork products would be questioned by the council and required to report the shipment or risk a fine.
In anticipation of an expected rise in inbound shipments of pork products ahead of the festival on June 3, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine is imposing stricter penalties on repeat offenders, starting from today.
Those caught receiving packages containing banned pork products multiple times would be subject to a fine of NT$200,000 to NT$1 million, as per Article 43 of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases (動物傳染病防治條例), the bureau said.
The changes are intended to encourage recipients to contact senders to tell them to refrain from shipping similar products to Taiwan, it said.
Those found to have knowingly imported illegal products after an interview with the council would also be fined, even if they are a first-time offender, it added.
Inspections have been heightened and farmers banned from feeding hogs food waste after August last year, when travelers from affected countries brought contaminated pork to Taiwan.
African swine fever poses a major threat to the pork industry, which accounts for more than 90 percent of domestic pork consumption and is worth about NT$7.2 billion, council data showed.
All products containing pork from countries affected by African swine fever are banned, including processed foods, pet food and animal feed.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization data showed that the following Asian countries have detected the disease since 2018: Bhutan, Cambodia, China (including Hong Kong), East Timor, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
From September last year to last month, customs officials had intercepted 569 packages containing illegal pork products totaling 542.57kg, the bureau said.
Most were from China and Hong Kong, followed by Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
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