Two Chinese pork jerky products seized at customs have tested positive for African swine fever, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
Tests found the two products collected from the quarantine amnesty bins at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) on Jan. 23 and 24 — one from Jiangsu Province and the other without a label indicating origin — had strains of the virus identical to those found in China, the council said.
The results brought the number of confiscated pork products testing positive for the disease to 20, council data showed.
Photo: CNA
Two more Chinese visitors on Saturday were denied entry into the country after failing to pay a NT$200,000 (US$6,505) fine for the illegal import of pork products, bringing the total of barred visitors since the regulation took effect on Jan. 25 to six, all Chinese, council data showed.
The council reiterated that it hoped Beijing authorities would provide more information about the disease, after the Rural Development Foundation on Saturday received a response from China’s Association for Agricultural Exchange Across the Taiwan Strait.
The foundation has since 2004 served as an information channel with the association, which is governed by Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
It first wrote to the Chinese association on Dec. 20 last year to request information about the African swine fever outbreak in China, but the latter replied on Jan. 15 that the outbreaks were “sporadic” and called on Taiwanese to stop spreading false information, according to copies of the letters shown on the foundation’s Web site.
It wrote to the association again on Jan. 25 and received a reply on Saturday.
The disease has spread to 25 Chinese provinces, municipalities and regions, with 950,000 pigs having been culled, but blocks over infection areas in 23 provinces have been lifted, showing China’s quarantine measures were effective and that the outbreaks have abated, the association said.
While it was a sign of progress that the Chinese side finally replied, the information was of no avail as the same data is available from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the council said on Saturday, adding that it expected Chinese authorities to provide “complete” information about the outbreaks.
The council last year said it wanted to send a delegation of academics and technical experts to China to collect information on the outbreaks, but has yet to receive a response from the other side, council Chief Secretary Chang Chih-sheng (張致盛) said yesterday.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
RSS