Taiwan Intercepts More ASF Contaminated Food Products

Credit Taiwan BAPHIQ

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Even though China hasn't reported an outbreak of African Swine Fever (either publicly, or to the OIE) in nearly 2 weeks - and Chinese State media continues to reassure the public on nation's progress against the disease - countries like Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan routinely report intercepting ASF contaminated food products being brought into their countries.

A week ago, in ASF: Taiwan Plays Hardball Over Undeclared Pork Product, we saw a passenger arriving from Mainland China via Hong Kong found to have undeclared pork products, who was fined NT$200,000 (roughly US$6500), with immediate payment required.

The passenger refused (or was unable) to pay, and 3 hours later was put back on a plane to Hong Kong and was told he would not be allowed to re-enter Taiwan until the fine is paid.  Since then, at least two more travelers have suffered similar fates (see BAPHIQ's The third exception to persons carrying illegal meat products, cut fined 200,000 yuan unpaid, denial of entry).

With the Spring Travel Season and Lunar New Year celebrations in full swing, hundreds of millions of people are traveling across Asia.  Many continue to carry with them undeclared pork products, which have potential to spread African Swine Fever.

Today Taiwan's BAPHIQ (Bureau of Animal Plant Health Inspection & Quarantine)  announces two more confiscated food products have tested positive for the ASF Virus.

Continued monitoring at the border, and 2 cases of African swine fever virus genes were detected in Chinese pork products.

The Animal and Plant Epidemic and Quarantine Bureau of the Agriculture Committee of the Executive Yuan said today (3) that two cases of African swine fever virus genes were detected in pork products in mainland China. This is the 19th and 20th case positive cases. The first 18 cases were respectively 107. 1 case on October 31, November 13 and November 30, 2 cases on December 12, December 20, December 21, and January 3, 1 each, January 5 2 cases, 2 cases on January 10, 2 cases on January 20, and 4 cases on January 24.

The Anti-Inspection Bureau said that the 2 cases were collected from the abandoned boxes on January 23 and 24, respectively, by the Matsuyama Airport Quarantine Station of the Keelung Branch of the Bureau. On the 23rd, the dried pork produced in Jiangsu Province of China was collected on the 24th. The dried pork collected was not labeled as the place of production. The two samples were sent to the Navy on the 31st, and were confirmed by the Animal Husbandry Institute. The sequence of the gene fragment was 100% similar to the gene fragment of the African swine fever virus strain in mainland China, indicating that the passengers carried pork from mainland China.

When products return to China, the risk of spreading African swine fever is extremely high. The Anti-Inspection Bureau stressed that the border quarantine of the Spring Festival holiday is still not lax. The Bureau has also deployed manpower to cooperate with the Customs and Excise Department and the Air Traffic Police Bureau to carry out inspections of passengers' luggage from high-risk areas in order to prevent African pigs from being out of the country. The Animal Husbandry Institute also continued to test samples collected at the border, which was not delayed due to the Spring Festival holiday.

The Anti-Inspection Bureau once again reminded the public that during the Spring Festival, returning to China and visiting relatives and friends who come to Taiwan to visit relatives, do not illegally bring meat into the country to avoid punishment, and avoid introducing the risk of disease.

While ostensibly good news, the recent slowdown in ASF outbreak may not be telling us the whole story.  Disease reporting out of China is often selective, or delayed, and during the extended Lunar New Year holiday, is apt to be even further diminished.

One thing is certain, the ASF virus seems well entrenched in China's pork products.  While it poses no threat to human health, its ability to spread - carried in the luggage of international travelers - continues to increase.