African swine fever transport, slaughter bans to end midnight Thursday

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) A ban on the transportation and slaughter of pigs imposed following an African swine fever outbreak in Taichung will be fully lifted at midnight Thursday, Taiwan's Cabinet said Thursday.

At a news conference, Cabinet Spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝), citing Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), said that a probe by the Central Emergency Operations Center for African Swine Fever found that the African swine fever infections were confined to a single farm in Taichung.

"The virus was traced to a single source -- food waste that had not been properly cooked," Lee quoted the premier as saying.

● Unsterilized food waste likely source of swine fever outbreak: Official

As the infections had not spread to other areas, the Central Emergency Operations Center for African Swine Fever decided to lift a ban on the transportation of live pigs in place since Oct. 22, at noon Thursday, according to the premier.

Bans on the transportation and trading of pork products, meanwhile, are set to be lifted at midnight Thursday.

The premier called on local governments to ensure that slaughterhouses, vehicles, and butcher stands within their jurisdictions are properly disinfected before pork trading resumes, Lee said.

Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said the ban on feeding pigs swill will remain in place until several conditions are met, including a nationwide inspection of 434 pig farms that adopt the practice.

The inspection is expected to take two weeks, with farms required to install real-time monitoring equipment to record temperature and capture images, Chen said.

The central government will subsidize the acquisition of this equipment, he added.

Chen said that regulations also need to be updated to better define the disease prevention responsibilities of pig farm operators and to introduce stricter penalties for noncompliance.

The Ministry of Agriculture will review progress every two weeks and only allow the practice to resume once the required improvements have been completed, Chen added.

Meanwhile, pig farmers will receive subsidies for purchasing feed, according to the minister.