Food waste disposal: Why is feeding kitchen waste to pigs banned?
To prevent African swine fever, kitchen waste has become a battleground in domestic epidemic prevention, even sparking an internal war between the camp that raises white pigs on feed and the camp that raises black pigs on kitchen waste. Because of black pig raising methods and long-standing historical factors, kitchen waste has always been their main food source, and the government's strict kitchen waste ban has had a direct impact on the black pig industry. Besides downstream pig farms, even upstream sows and black piglets have been affected.
Huang Guorong, director of the Agriculture Department of Pingtung County Government in Pingtung, called on the government to accelerate breed conservation and develop feed suitable for black pigs to eat. Epidemic prevention should also not focus only on kitchen waste; non-kitchen-waste feed ingredients such as meat-and-bone meal should also receive simultaneous attention so that epidemic prevention can be fully implemented.
Piglets have also been affected (Image source / Xie Xuzhong)
Huang Guorong: Feed sources other than kitchen waste also need simultaneous attention
Regarding the battle against African swine fever, Huang Guorong stressed that although kitchen waste feeding of pigs is certainly a key point in epidemic prevention and a possible transmission route for the virus that must be taken seriously, the feed used by the 88% of pig farmers who feed pigs with feed also needs simultaneous attention.
He further explained that among pig feed additives and raw materials, besides corn and soybeans, there are also animal proteins, meat-and-bone meal, and pig blood meal to supplement protein and serve as nutritional sources for pigs. "These must also be properly tested and guarded against." Otherwise, while focusing on kitchen waste feeding of pigs, it could cause feed-feeding pig farmers to become lax, creating an even bigger epidemic loophole.
He mentioned that African swine fever virus genes were recently detected in two batches of pig blood globulin powder that China's Tianjin Enbi company had planned to export. "Regardless of whether China might sell it in through a third place, from the perspective of epidemic prevention, all feed must be guarded against and checked."
Because domestic testing of pig feed currently only targets heavy metals, Huang Guorong said bluntly that the intensity is simply not enough. He believes reference can be made to the controls on cattle feed. To avoid the transmission of mad cow disease, animal protein must never appear in cattle feed, so official border inspections and inspections of feed mills are all very strict. He suggested that at the current stage, epidemic prevention should also strengthen testing intensity for pig feed at the raw material and feed mill levels.
"It is not that current pig feed cannot contain animal protein, or that we should ban all of it. That kind of handling would not be good either. I think raw materials and additives should be properly checked, and African swine fever virus-related items should be added to testing for all added animal proteins, meat-and-bone meal, pig blood meal, and so on," so that the feed sources used by the 88% of feed-feeding pig farmers can be ensured safe and secure. Only then would it be truly comprehensive epidemic prevention.
At the same time, he also reminded that biosafety epidemic prevention on farms is also very important. Besides doing disinfection procedures well at ordinary times, during this period unrelated people should also be prohibited from entering and leaving farms. Access control should be stricter than in the past, and disinfection around farms should also be carried out with greater frequency.