Radio  Taiwan International
Date: 24 January, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

Inspectors are continuing to work through the Lunar New Year holiday to keep African swine fever out of Taiwan.

Inspectors are stepping up work to keep Taiwan free of African swine fever over the Lunar New Year holiday.

African swine fever does not affect humans, but it is fatal to pigs. Taiwan has so far managed to keep the disease out, even as it has spread through nearby Asian countries. However, there are still concerns that the virus responsible for the disease could reach Taiwan, with devastating effects on its sizable pork industry.

In 2019, the Environmental Protection Administration drew up a plan to inspect pig farms that use kitchen waste as feed. The plan is designed to get farms to steam kitchen waste at high temperatures, thus cutting the risk that the resulting slop could spread infectious diseases among pigs. Inspectors paid over 6000 visits to pig farms last year, enforcing rules about kitchen waste treatment. They found a total of 253 infractions.    [FULL  STORY]