How to prevent African swine fever, and is it connected to live pig transport vehicles?
To prevent African swine fever, live pig transport vehicles are not subject to regulation and could become a black hole, so what should we do? Let's find out together. How is it best to defend against it?
China's African swine fever epidemic situation is not transparent, and Taiwan's epidemic prevention authorities are on edge. Facing the discovery in recent days of ham sausages from China in a riverside park in Taipei and at a school in Nantou, the Council of Agriculture on the 8th gathered experts and scholars to discuss follow-up African swine fever prevention measures. At the meeting, many experts had already begun to worry: once African swine fever breaks out in Taiwan, is there really any way to trace and monitor it? Among them, live pig transport vehicles became the main target of criticism.
Because the Council of Agriculture currently has no registry regulating live pig transport vehicles, and does not have an accurate grasp of the number of vehicles and transport conditions, experts have called one after another for GPS devices to be installed on transport vehicles as soon as possible to facilitate epidemic monitoring. In response, Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng instructed on the spot that in the future the Second Reserve Fund allocated by the Executive Yuan will be used, taking this opportunity to establish basic data on the transport system.
Monitoring the epidemic: experts call for GPS installation on transport vehicles
The Council of Agriculture on the 8th gathered experts and scholars to discuss follow-up African swine fever prevention measures. Those attending included Chen Chih-feng, professor in the Department of Animal Science at National Chung Hsing University; Chou Chin-cheng, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at National Taiwan University; Chang Chao-chin, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at National Chung Hsing University; and Chen Shih-chu, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. They all called for the government to face squarely the problem that live pig transport vehicles are not being checked.
Chen Chih-feng said that judging from China's current epidemic situation, prevention of African swine fever will be a long-term issue. If it unfortunately does enter Taiwan, does the Council of Agriculture currently have the ability to trace vehicle transport conditions over 5 to 15 days? Do transport vehicles need to be equipped with GPS devices? Are there epidemiology teachers who can immediately devote themselves to related investigations?
Chou Chin-cheng also stressed that in the past, when he visited foreign transport vehicles and rendering trucks, their management models were all very clear. "This is actually basic work." Basic data including the nationwide number of pigs raised, number of households, breeds raised, number of quarantine dogs, and how many inspectors there will be for future food-waste pig farms need to be established before long-term work can be done. Otherwise, once the virus enters, the (industry) will quickly be gone in a short time.
In the future, the Council of Agriculture will use the Second Reserve Fund allocated by the Executive Yuan to establish basic data on the transport system. (Image screenshot from the Facebook fan page of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine - Epidemic Prevention Little Vanguard)
Transport vehicles are not regulated, and the competent authority is also unclear
Peng Ming-hsing, head of the Animal Epidemic Prevention Division of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said that currently the rendering transport vehicles specially used to carry dead pigs and dead chickens are regulated by the Environmental Protection Administration and are required to have GPS installed. When the avian influenza epidemic broke out in the 104th year of the Republic of China, local epidemic prevention agencies used GPS tracks to conduct visits and investigations at poultry farms. However, he does not know exactly how many live pig transport vehicles there are or what proportion are dedicated vehicles.
Wang Chung-shu, deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Department of the Council of Agriculture, admitted frankly that there is indeed currently no registry regulating live pig transport vehicles. In addition, transport vehicles range from large to small, and there are also trailer trucks and other scales. Although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is responsible for issuing vehicle licenses and is the supervisory unit, who is the management unit for live pig transport vehicles? Current laws do not clearly stipulate this, so the number of vehicles and transport conditions cannot be accurately controlled. The GPS system suggested by experts can be taken into consideration.
Huang Chin-cheng said that the Council of Agriculture is currently applying to the Executive Yuan for support from the Second Reserve Fund. Regarding the construction of basic data on live pig transport vehicles and the installation of GPS, it will be required to make up for this quickly while taking this opportunity. Otherwise, once an epidemic breaks out in the future, there will be no way to know where problem pigs have gone. Epidemic prevention will become very troublesome.