Food Safety | Sulu Sou calls for prevention against African swine fever

Lawmaker Sulu Sou has asked the government to prevent the African swine fever from spreading to Macau.

The lawmaker remarked that many cases of people bringing unquarantined products from mainland China to Macau have been reported.

“Regarding the case where Taiwan tested positive for the African swine fever [ASF] virus gene in pork sausages coming from Macau, I want to ask the administration authority how the virus-carrying meat product concerned could have passed quarantine and have been imported to Macau?” Sou asked.

“Considering the continuous spread of ASF in Guangdong, what measures will the administration authority take to ensure that the infected pigs and meat products will not be carried and brought to Macau?” Sou wrote in his inquiry to the government.

“What kind of measures does the administration authority have to ensure customers’ rights in face of the possibility of a price hike due to live pig supply reduction?” Sou writes.

In early August this year, the mainland’s countryside department of the ministry of agriculture reported the first ASF outbreak in Shenyang province, where over 40 pigs died.

Since the first case’s report, many subsequent African swine fever outbreaks have been reported in mainland provinces, including Fujian and, more recently, Guangdong.

The Chinese government has always claimed that the outbreaks are under control.

Last week, a case was reported from a farm in Zhuhai. Following this report, Macau’s Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) issued a statement clarifying that no live pigs had been imported to Macau from the affected pig farm in Zhuhai.