Farmers in charge of swine fever outbreak farm detained

Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) The Taichung District Court approved early Tuesday a request by Taichung prosecutors to detain a father and son who operated the pig farm where Taiwan's recent African swine fever outbreak originated on suspicion of forging documents.

In a statement, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office said that after re-questioning the farmers, it found that they likely committed forgery and posed a high risk of destroying or forging evidence and colluding with accomplices or witnesses if left go.

Those factors led prosecutors to request that the two individuals be detained and held incommunicado.

The farmers, surnamed Chen (陳), are suspected of altering the numbers on the triplicate form used to cover the handover of dead carcasses to off-site "rendering" operations, which use heat to make the carcasses safe for further processing into pork products.

Altering the form numbers led to differences in the forms handed to the rendering operator and the one the farmers kept, according to a statement by prosecutors on Oct. 30.

The discrepancy makes it difficult to determine whether all of the deceased pigs from the farm were handled by the rendering operator or if some may have been illegally sold on the market or disposed of separately, leading to the investigation into the farmers' actions.

Prosecutors said they would continue to collaborate closely with disease control units in the central and local governments and police units to uncover the truth behind the incident to protect the public interest and national agricultural stability.

The outbreak, which was announced publicly on Oct. 22, was confirmed to have originated from the farm on Oct. 25.

It led to a 15-day ban on the slaughter and transport of pigs in Taiwan, which is scheduled to end on Nov. 7.

The African Swine Fever Forward Command Center on Monday said the breakout likely resulted from feeding the pigs food waste that had not been properly sterilized.

It also said that the outbreak appears to be contained.