African Swine Fever Outbreak Likely Caused By Improperly Cooked Feed

TaiwanPlus News

Investigators say that improperly cooked feed is the likely cause of an outbreak of African Swine Fever at a farm in Taichung. The outbreak has put the country's entire pork industry on hold as authorities work to contain the disease, which is highly contagious for pigs but not harmful to humans.

Transcript

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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