The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) is following up on the detection of the virus that causes African swine fever in the products of a well-known frozen food brand from Hong Kong.
Recently, the relevant governmental department of the Philippines detected the African swine fever virus in one portion of celery and pork dumplings from Wanchai Ferry Dumplings.
Following the official report of the Philippine government, the IAM claimed to have immediately contacted the concerned government department in the Philippines to gather more information about the batch of the products.
The IAM also contacted Macau’s local importers of the products to remind them to pay attention to the origin of the products. Local importers are required to keep the original receipt of the imported commodity.
The IAM warned Macau’s traders to not sell any suspicious dumplings and to report such products to the IAM.
The IAM will continue to follow up on this case. The bureau also reassured the public that African swine fever is not a threat to human health as it is a non-zoonotic disease; an animal disease which does not infect humans.
African swine fever broke out on the mainland in August 2018 and quickly swept through the country. Due to the epidemic scale on which the disease was present, mainland pig farms that supply Macau reduced their live pig supply to the territory, resulting in a substantial decrease in the daily number of live pigs imported from the mainland from over 300 heads to approximately 100 heads at present. Local prices of pork have adjusted to reflect the change in supply.
Yesterday, the IAM also reported that tomorrow, the mainland will supply Macau with 175 live pigs. The bureau believes that this supply is enough to meet Macau’s current demand.
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