African Swine Fever: Don't Throw Expired Pork from the Fridge into Food Waste; Put It in the Trash and Let the Cleaning Crew Incinerate It
To prevent an outbreak of African swine fever in the country, the Environmental Protection Administration is advising the public that if they have expired domestically produced raw pork to discard, they should put it in the trash so that it can be taken by the cleaning crew's garbage truck to an incinerator and burned, eliminating any possibility of an outbreak. However, for pork products of unknown origin from abroad, the Council of Agriculture stresses that the public should still mail them to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine for centralized destruction.
In addition, the Executive Yuan has agreed that if an African swine fever outbreak occurs in the country, pig farmers can receive full compensation. Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng stresses that if abnormal deaths of pigs occur, farmers must report them immediately to prevent the spread of the disease.
Expired raw pork from the fridge should go straight into the trash, not food waste
Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Administrator Shen Chih-hsiu said at a press conference on the 25th that during the Lunar New Year household clean-up next week, people may clear out expired raw pork from their refrigerators, but raw pork has not been cooked at high temperatures, and if it enters the food-waste pig-feeding system, there could be concerns about an outbreak. Therefore, the public is advised that if they plan to discard expired domestically produced raw pork, they should put it directly in the trash, so that it is transported by the cleaning crew's garbage truck and incinerated, and this has already been promoted in all counties and cities.
The Council of Agriculture advises that pork products of unknown origin must not be discarded at will and should be mailed back to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine for centralized destruction; however, in an interview yesterday, Environmental Protection Administration Administrator Chang Tzi-chin said raw pork and pork products can be put in the trash for incineration. The two sides' statements differed, prompting outside questions that disease prevention efforts were not in sync.
In response, Huang Chin-cheng specifically explained that when no outbreak has yet occurred in the country, handling domestic meat products as garbage is no problem. "If meat products are put in general garbage, the cleaning crew will handle them by incineration, and that settles it once and for all, without creating problems." If instead of incineration the method is burial, stray animals might eat them by mistake and cause the disease to spread, but the possibility is extremely low.
Food-waste pig-feeding inspections end at the end of January; those not completed must switch to feed or leave pig farming
Shen then said that inspections of food-waste reuse for pig feeding end at the end of January this year, and if food-waste pig farms have not completed inspection, they must switch to feed or leave pig farming. Local environmental protection bureaus and agriculture bureaus have also carried out multiple rounds of inspections to ensure that at all food-waste pig farms nationwide, the food waste is steamed at a high temperature of 90 degrees for one hour, cutting off the route of infection.
As for how to dispose of food waste in the future if an outbreak occurs and food waste cannot be used to feed pigs, Shen said every county and city has contingency methods. If pigs really are not fed, the food waste must go to a proper destination, and incineration is not the best method; it should go through anaerobic digestion and energy upgrading, as Taoyuan will complete an energy-upgrading center in two years.
If an outbreak occurs and pigs must be culled, the government will compensate 100%
In addition, if an outbreak occurs in the country in the future, to encourage pig farmers to report proactively, the Executive Yuan has agreed that culling compensation will follow the standards used during the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak of that year, giving full compensation. Huang Chin-cheng stressed, "As long as there are abnormal pig deaths, report proactively, and if it is an African swine fever outbreak, 100% compensation can be given." He hopes farmers will report at the first opportunity and deal with the outbreak, rather than, as in China, because the reporting system is incomplete, allowing the outbreak to spread to more than twenty provinces within three months.
Black-haired pigs' voluntary production and marketing, with subsidies for culled pigs
In addition, because of the promotion of switching food-waste pig feeding to feed or leaving pig farming, the production of black-haired piglets has become excessive. Therefore, the Council of Agriculture has launched "Short-term Voluntary Production and Marketing Adjustment Measures for Black-haired Pigs," expected to cull 8,000 black-haired breeding sows, with a subsidy of 2,000 yuan per head, and to cull 10,000 excess black-haired piglets for processing, with a subsidy of 800 yuan per head (600 yuan for pig farmers, 200 yuan for slaughter and processing operators). From now until the end of February, operators can apply to the Central Animal Husbandry Association.
Huang Chin-cheng said that the two weeks during the Lunar New Year are the period of highest outbreak risk, as many people working in China return to Taiwan, with arrivals reaching a peak, so precautions will be strengthened. Feng Hai-tung, Director-General of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, pointed out that in addition to installing 16 more X-ray machines at Taoyuan Airport to achieve 100% inspection of carry-on baggage, manpower and the number of quarantine dogs will also be increased.