The Battle Over Epidemic Prevention and Food Waste 15"A More Scientific Era for Black Pigs! Livestock Research Institute Develops Specialized Feed, Pig Farmers: Looking Forward to More Research and Development, Moving Toward Transformational Development

Facing the fierce onslaught of African swine fever, domestic pig farmers are under enormous pressure to prevent epidemics, and the local black pig industry, which mainly relies on food waste for feeding, is hit hardest of all. In the future, when large amounts of food waste are diverted to composting or biomass energy, how will the black pig industry respond? Do government agencies and private operators already have plans to research and develop alternative feed?

The Council of Agriculture's Livestock Research Institute (abbreviated as "Livestock Research Institute") stated that it has developed low-protein high-fiber feed as well as food-waste-like feed, controlling protein content between 10-15%. The first-stage test results are now out, with no palatability concerns and good feed intake, and there is potential in the future to move toward the higher-end meat market.

Tseng Jen-te, secretary-general of the "Taiwan Local Black Pig Self-Rescue Association," said that having organizations begin researching and developing black pig feed is a good start, but it should not be a hasty measure behind a "food waste ban," and should instead truly begin with the nutritional formula and feeding needs required by black pigs. He also pointed out that black pig farmers are currently standing at an industrial crossroads, and many pig farms that cannot keep up have already chosen to exit, leaving behind pig farmers who identify with the awareness of transformation. "We believe that even without food waste, local black pigs still have a way to operate," and he looks forward to local black pigs moving toward an industry as distinctive and refined as Kagoshima black pigs of Japan and Iberian pigs of Spain.