Taiwan resumes pork exports with 1st Singapore shipment

Taipei, June 11 (CNA) Taiwan has resumed pork exports after regaining self-certification as free of three major swine diseases, with the first shipment of processed pork products bound for Singapore later this month.

Processed meat producer Taiwan Farm Industry Co. (T-HAM) held a container-sealing ceremony in Pingtung County on Thursday to mark the occasion.

The shipment consists of 500 cartons, or 10,000 packs, of the company's original-flavor Taiwanese pork sausages, which are scheduled to arrive in Singapore on June 25 and go on sale at Sheng Siong supermarkets, T-HAM Chairman Chang Hua-hsin (張華欣) said.

Chang said the company will initially focus on exporting sausages before expanding to products such as braised pork belly and pork meatballs, with fresh pork exports remaining a longer-term goal.

The resumption comes after Taiwan regained self-certification in April as free of foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever (ASF) and classical swine fever, following authorities' containment of an ASF outbreak reported last October.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) described the achievement as rare globally, noting that both Singapore and the Philippines accepted Taiwan's export applications without dispatching inspection teams, a sign of confidence in Taiwan's disease-control and food safety systems.

Pingtung County Deputy Magistrate Huang Kuo-jung (黃國榮) credited the Singapore partnership in part to agricultural promotion efforts by Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) during his tenure as Pingtung magistrate, and suggested that Singapore's large ethnic Chinese consumer base could make it a gateway for Taiwanese food products into broader Southeast Asian markets.

T-HAM said the deal marks not only the return of Taiwanese processed pork to international markets, but also the introduction of the island's signature pork products to Singaporean households.