Taiwan’s first African swine fever (ASF) was probably caused by unsterilised food waste, according to the country’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tu Wen-jane.
The government announced a suspected outbreak at a pig farm in Taichung’s Wuqi District on October 21, resulting in 195 pigs being ‘preventively culled’. The minister told a news conference in Taichung to Monday that an investigation into the now confirmed outbreak had ruled out people, vehicles and pigs from outside the farm as possible sources of infection.
From this, researchers inferred that the most likely source was food waste that had not been properly sterilized before it was fed to pigs on the farm, Tu said, Focus Taiwan reported.
Taiwan’s ASF Forward Command Center investigation report noted that pigs on the Taichung farm fed food waste had died at a significantly higher rate than those given regular animal feed. Another pig farm, which obtained its food waste from the same source as the farm with the outbreak, but properly sterilized it, had no positive cases among its pigs, the report said.
The command center also revealed that the strain of the virus found on the Taichung farm was ‘highly similar’ to strains of ASF found in both China and Vietnam.
The command center’s report said that the outbreak appears to be contained, with no positive cases found at any other domestic pig farms, processing facilities, meat markets, or slaughterhouses.
Ministers had suggested that the government’s current 15-day ban on the slaughter and transport of pigs in Taiwan, which extends through Thursday, may be allowed to expire if no additional cases are found.
The government has said Taiwan could regain its ASF-free status if no new cases are discovered in the next three months, the Focus Taiwan report added.
Food waste
Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih said the central government has discouraged farmers from using food waste as pig feed. Over time, however, local governments began granting pig farmers permits to use food waste, on the condition that they upload photos showing that it had been sterilized at above 90 degrees Celsius for at least one hour, he said. It appears that those rules were not strictly enforced, the Focus Taiwan report added.
The infected farm wis being investigated by prosecutors for not submitting any documentation of food waste sterilisation from May through September, and then submitting multiple photos in October with fake dates for the previous months, the command center’s report added.
Chen said indicated his ministry would tighten up the rules around food waste and that once changes are enacted, the government would open a discussion on banning feeding pigs food waste. If a ban is introduced, farmers will be time to adjust, he added.