African swine fever breakout contained: agriculture ministry

Taipei, Oct. 27 (CNA) The first stage of disease tracing has shown that the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak has been contained at its initial site in Taichung's Wuqi District, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) said Monday.

Tu told a press conference in Taichung held by the African Swine Fever Forward Command Center that the public can be "assured, but not relaxed."

● Taichung farm confirmed as site of Taiwan's 1st African swine fever outbreak

Meanwhile, Chang Ching-chang (張敬昌), director of Taichung City Government Agriculture Bureau, clarified the timeline of the outbreak.

Chang said the city's Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office received a report on the evening of Oct. 13 from a veterinary aide surnamed Wang (王), who worked with the affected farm. Officials were dispatched to the site the following day.

The office's veterinarian diagnosed the pigs with an actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection and did not collect samples after hearing that the farmer had administered vaccines to those animals showing nasal bleeding symptoms, according to Chang.

The same veterinarian returned to the site on Oct. 20 to take samples.

● Pig transport, slaughter bans extended by 10 days amid ASF outbreak

The pigs did not show typical symptoms of ASF, so sampling was not considered necessary, Chang said,

He added that the pig farmer surnamed Chen (陳) had committed no regulatory violation by administering medication to his pigs after abnormal deaths without reporting the matter to the contracted veterinarian.

Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said recently that sampling will be required for pigs with bleeding symptoms.

According to the city government's initial investigation, Chen said he called a "veterinarian" surnamed Wang for advice when his pigs showed symptoms and Wang had provided instructions on medication.

However, the city on Sunday discovered that Wang is only a veterinarian aide and not legally authorized to prescribe medication, prompting the authorities to take him in for questioning.

Chen told CNA on Sunday that Wang had not prescribed the medication and that he did not recall where he had purchased it. He said he did not report the issue immediately because the contracted veterinarian was expected to visit in a few days.

Environment Minister Peng Chi-ming (彭啓明) said Sunday that the farm had also failed to upload required videos or photographs showing food waste being cooked before being fed to pigs.

Records show the farm uploaded the data 24 times in May, eight times in June, once in July and none in August, Peng said.

In response, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) on Monday urged a change to the law to create penalties for such violations, as monitoring enforcement is beyond "moral persuasion."

Lin Tso-hsiang (林左祥), deputy director-general of the Ministry of Environment's Environmental Management Administration, said at the Monday press conference that environmental protection agencies are required to inspect pig farm sites once every two to three months to ensure the safety of feeding procedures.

If a pig farm fails to upload the records, inspections should be increased to once every month, he said.

However, the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau only inspected the site in May and July and not in June or August, he noted.

Chen Hung-yi (陳宏益), head of the bureau, responded that 15 violations among the 37 pig farms sites in the city that feed food waste had been found in the past two years.

In the 24 times the outbreak site was inspected over the past three years, there had been no problems or any records of fines, he added.

Bureau staff made calls to the site in question once every month since June to persuade it to upload the required records, he said.