00:00Dressed in protective gear, investigators descend on pig farms in central Taiwan.
00:07They're trying to figure out what caused a sudden outbreak of African swine fever at a farm in
00:12Taichung last month, just one year after the country had been declared free of the highly
00:17contagious disease. Taiwan has strict border controls to keep illnesses like this one coming
00:24in. That's made finding the source of this outbreak much harder, but authorities think
00:28they've found an answer.
00:42Feed made from kitchen waste is a common, cheaper alternative to regular feed, but it must be
00:47heated to above 90 degrees Celsius for over an hour to kill germs that could be deadly to pigs.
00:53Testing shows that nearly 40 percent of pigs given kitchen waste feed at the farm where
00:58the outbreak happened had died. That's compared to just 2.5 percent of those given regular
01:03feed. Investigators say the farm appeared to lack the proper equipment to heat the feed
01:08to meet safety standards.
01:09It appears that the farm tried to falsify records of food waste sterilization, and there were
01:29discrepancies in orders of the fuel they typically use to heat the food. The owner claimed they used
01:34wood as an alternative, but experts say it might not have met safety standards causing the pigs
01:39to fall sick.
01:39Authorities say they hope to contain the outbreak as quickly as possible.
01:59All other farms have tested negative for the virus, and a temporary ban on the slaughter and
02:04transport of live pigs is set to end later this week.
02:09Pork is one of Taiwan's staple products, and African swine fever cannot be transmitted to humans.
02:14Still, many are thinking twice about eating pork, and farmers are already feeling the effects of a drop in demand.
02:20Authorities are urging pork producers around the country to take it as a lesson to follow safety standards,
02:26since even one case could put the entire industry in jeopardy.
02:30Dolphine Chen and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.
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