1221 The Enemy at the Gates"Seventh Confirmed Case of African Swine Fever! The Council of Agriculture Judges the Situation to Be Extremely Dangerous; Today Two Chinese Travelers Tried to Sneak In Fresh Pork and Pig Trotters!

Text by Upstream and Downstream reporters Liu Yixin and Lin Peijun

Meat products brought into Taiwan, China from China today tested positive for the seventh case of African swine fever. As of today, seven cases have tested positive for the African swine fever virus, and the meat products came from Shenyang, Harbin, Chongqing, Macao, China, Fujian and other places. Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Jincheng explained that four of the seven cases were detected in December, which shows that Chinese meat products have already been comprehensively contaminated by the virus. "This is a very dangerous signal." The African swine fever outbreak has already spread to 23 provinces in China, and he called on people not to bring meat products back to Taiwan again.

He even directly criticized the situation as being completely out of control in China: "It is evident that farm owners did not proactively report when they discovered swine fever, there was no veterinarian inspection and gatekeeping before or after slaughter, and all pork, whether infected or not, was sent for processing, while the government did not manage it either."

It is best not to bring canned goods at all

As to whether lard and canned goods can be brought back into the country, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine section chief Peng Mingxing explained that products already rendered into lard are not restricted under the relevant regulations and can enter the country without issue. As for canned goods, he explained that according to international standards, canned goods reach sterilization standards, so organisms inside are certainly killed off, and therefore any product meeting the requirements for canned goods can enter Taiwan. However, ordinary people are unclear about the definition of canned goods and easily bring them back by mistake, so he still recommended that it is best not to bring any at all.

Is laboratory testing capacity sufficient? Council of Agriculture: No problem

Animal Health Research Institute acting section chief Deng Mingzhong said that Taiwan uses viral nucleic acid for testing. Testing meat products takes two days for a negative result and four days for a positive result, while clinical specimens, because blood and feces can be directly collected, take only one day.

However, as the African swine fever outbreak becomes more severe and people from the two countries travel back and forth more frequently during the Lunar New Year period, is the testing capacity of laboratories in Taiwan sufficient to cope? Huang Jincheng stressed, "No problem." The Animal Health Research Institute can flexibly adjust personnel and divide them into groups for testing. As for outside doubts that laboratories in Taiwan do not meet verification by the World Reference Laboratory, Deng Mingzhong responded that Taiwan has the ability to test African swine fever samples and has already conducted capability comparison with the World Reference Laboratory, and its testing capability is consistent with that of the World Reference Laboratory.

Is raising the fine to 200,000 effective? Huang Jincheng: Continued education is still needed

As for whether raising the fine to 200,000 has achieved a deterrent effect, Huang Jincheng said that it is still not yet apparent and that more time is needed to achieve results. He stressed that originally, whether from epidemic areas or non-epidemic areas, meat products could not be brought back into the country, but people in Taiwan have not developed the habit, so continuous education is necessary to develop the habit of not bringing meat products in or out.

Huang Jincheng also pointed out directly that two months ago he had already said African swine fever in China would spiral out of control, and that this peak period is predicted to last half a year to a year. "Only after all infected pig farms have been burned will the number of infected pigs decline and the outbreak ease. But as long as any pigs still exist, the virus will lurk in the environment at any time, merely temporarily suppressing the outbreak."

Council of Agriculture: "Some people just do not feel it. They only know once they are fined."

According to Council of Agriculture statistics, after the penalty amount was raised on December 18, there were still violations every day, including 9 cases on the 18th (2 fined 200,000 yuan, 6 fined 30,000 yuan, 1 fined 10,000 yuan), 5 cases on the 19th (1 fined 200,000 yuan, 4 fined 30,000 yuan), and 7 cases on the 20th, among which 2 were fined 200,000 yuan (Chinese pork products), 4 were fined 30,000 yuan (3 cases of Chinese poultry and beef, 1 case of Thai pork products), and 1 was fined 10,000 yuan (Japanese dog and cat food). On the 21st, there was 1 new case fined 200,000 yuan (Chinese fresh pork filling).

Regarding people who were fined repeatedly saying they did not know they could not bring meat products back into the country, Huang Jincheng said that publicity had already been carried out for so long, including through television and print media. "Some people just do not feel it. They only know once they are fined." Currently all flights arriving in Taiwan also carry public announcements in Chinese, English, and Vietnamese. He once again stressed that people should absolutely not bring meat products back into the country.

The Council of Agriculture once again reminded the public not to bring meat products when entering the country and not to buy foreign meat products online for shipment to Taiwan. Violators will face heavy penalties, so do not test the law. Complete epidemic prevention information can be found on the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine website.

(For related news on African swine fever, please click here to read)