Anyone who tries to bring pork or pork products from Sweden into Taiwan would be fined a minimum of NT$200,000 (US$6,248) after African swine fever (ASF) was detected in the Nordic nation, the Central Emergency Operations Center said on Thursday.
In a statement, the center said that the Swedish National Veterinary Institute confirmed on Wednesday that ASF was detected in a sample from a dead wild boar in the southeast of Fagersta in the county of Vastmanland, which is 145km northwest of Stockholm.
It was not clear how the infection arrived in Sweden, the center said, citing information released by the institute.
Photo: Taipei Times
Following the confirmation, the Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday removed Sweden from its list of countries that are free of ASF, and indicated that pork or pork products from the Nordic nation would not be allowed into Taiwan taking effect from that day.
The ministry’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine also added Sweden to a list of countries confirmed with ASF over the past three years, indicating that those caught trying to bring Swedish pork into Taiwan for the first time would be fined NT$200,000, while repeat offenders would be fined NT$1 million.
Visitors caught at airports or seaports trying to bring in pork from Sweden and who are unable to pay the fine upfront would be denied entry into Taiwan and deported, the agency said.
All carry-on and checked-in luggage of inbound passengers coming from Sweden would be checked, it said.
Sweden is one of the countries that supply pork or pork-related products to Taiwan, with a total of 1,925 tonnes of such products imported last year, accounting for 1.87 percent of total pork imports into the country, it said.
The European countries identified as having ASF in the past three years include Estonia, Lithuania, Belgium, Bulgaria and Hungary, the center said.
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