The Executive Yuan is today expected to approve a comprehensive ban on feeding food waste to pigs starting in 2027, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said yesterday.
The announcement comes weeks after authorities averted an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak by implementing pig culls and supply chain freezes that disrupted meat supply across the nation.
The ban would provide a transition plan to deal with food waste and a one-year grace period, Peng told a news conference on an unrelated matter in Taipei.
Photo: Chen Wen-hui, Taipei Times
The Ministry of Environment’s plan would divert food waste recycled for pigs to incinerators, biowaste energy generation, black soldier fly larvae processing and compost, he said.
The use of leftovers in slop for pigs could be terminated within six months of the policy’s implementation in jurisdictions that plan stricter timetables to abolish the practice, such as Pingtung and Chiayi counties, he said.
That means kitchen waste would likely disappear from hog farms altogether by late 2027, Peng said.
The ministry would strengthen operating procedures for monitoring dioxin emissions in trash incineration facilities, as the toxic substance could be generated during the thermal disposal of food waste, he said.
The policy would increase costs for the restaurant and catering industry, but officials are optimistic that the negative impact would be outweighed by the benefits for the environment and the biowaste management sector, he added.
Separately, lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee yesterday told agricultural officials to hasten the ban’s implementation, citing concerns over the economic risks posed by ASF to the nation’s pork industry.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said that hog farmers would lose the ability to export pork should authorities detect another ASF case.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張?楷) said farmers in his constituency have petitioned for the government to immediately institute the ban, as potential cost savings from delayed implementation pale against the risks of ASF.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) reiterated that the ban would be approved today and that officials are coordinating with hog farming industry representatives to facilitate the policy’s rollout.
The ministry is preparing policy guidance for farmers to prepare for the transition from food waste, she said, adding that less than 10 percent of hog farms make use of recycled leftovers in their pig feed.
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