Prosecutors yesterday indicted a father and son for falsifying evidence to hide an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak at their pig farm in Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲) in October last year and demanded that the court give them heavy sentences.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement that the two, surnamed Chen (陳), were charged with fraud, document forgery and filing false reports under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), and said their conduct was “extremely malicious” and had “seriously harmed national interests.”
The case stems from Taiwan’s first-ever domestic ASF outbreak, confirmed on Oct. 25, after 117 pigs at the farm died between Oct. 10 and 20.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
Prosecutors said the farm was registered to recycle kitchen waste as pig feed, which must be boiled at more than 90°C for at least one hour before being fed to pigs and properly reported with photo or video proof.
Investigators found that the younger Chen had uploaded photos taken in 2022 as false evidence of procedures in 2023 and last year.
The farm also allegedly overstated its use of kitchen waste and gas, resold surplus waste to other farms, and filed false monthly reports through an unidentified agent.
When pigs began dying in large numbers in October last year, the pair failed to report the suspected outbreak and instead administered antibiotics, prosecutors said.
They underreported deaths, sending some carcasses to a licensed processor, while hiring illegal operators to dispose of others, prosecutors said, adding that they found that 46 pig deaths were not reported.
After inspections and mandatory testing, authorities confirmed ASF and culled 195 remaining pigs on Oct. 22 last year.
Prosecutors also said the operators administered amoxicillin without a veterinary diagnosis during the outbreak and sold 28 pigs for more than NT$320,000 at an auction on Oct. 13 using a false health declaration.
Taiwan had been declared free of ASF in May last year, but following the outbreak, authorities imposed a five-day nationwide ban on the transporting and slaughter of pigs and temporarily barred the use of kitchen waste as feed.
The Ministry of Agriculture last week sought to regain ASF-free status with the World Organization for Animal Health, saying that the affected farm was cleaned and disinfected, with samples testing negative on Nov. 21 last year, after which no further cases had been detected.
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