Facebook has agreed to remove online advertisements of processed pork products made abroad, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
The partnership is part of the council’s campaign to prevent an African swine fever outbreak in the nation after the New Taipei City Police Department on Aug. 18 seized 71kg of pork jerky and sausages smuggled from Vietnam that were contaminated with the virus.
Apart from expanding a search for smuggled meat from Vietnam, the council said it also targeted social media advertisements for pork-containing products made in other countries.
Photo courtesy of Aviation Police Bureau
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said the Internet is filled with standalone Web pages advertising pork products.
“These Web pages lure people in with paradoxical information or stories appealing to people’s emotions,” he said.
Chen, who also heads the African Swine Fever Emergency Response Center, said the center has asked large e-commerce operators to mask such advertisements so that people cannot click on them.
“We will also work with other government agencies to ask Internet service providers to take down advertisements of pork-containing products. Advertisers of overseas meat products could be fined for contravening the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases (動物傳染病防治條例),” he said.
Facebook has agreed to take down the advertisements after being notified by the center, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine officials said, adding that they have yet to make similar agreements with Internet service providers.
Sellers or advertisers of pork-containing products made in countries with an African swine fever outbreak could face a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000, according to the statute, the bureau said.
Those selling or advertising pork-containing products made in China or Vietnam could be fined NT$150,000, it added.
In other news, the council is to issue 1.46 million agriculture vouchers in two phases for a free draw as part of the Executive Yuan’s stimulus package, with each having a face value of NT$888.
While the council has raised the face value of the vouchers from NT$250 last year, Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers said the number of vouchers available this year is 3.54 million fewer than last year.
“We are not going to change the plan because we have a fixed budget,” Chen said, adding that the council’s Forestry Bureau is to offer extra incentives to consumers next week.
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