Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TAIPEI3566
2005-08-26 07:52:00
UNCLASSIFIED
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Cable title:  

Diseased Pork Items Sold to Local Markets in

Tags:  SENV ECON TW ESTH 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

260752Z Aug 05
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003566 

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON

DEPT FOR EAP/RSP/TC

USDOC FOR 6200/ITA/TD

FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ECON TW ESTH
SUBJECT: Diseased Pork Items Sold to Local Markets in
Southern Taiwan

REF: Taipei 2997

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003566

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON

DEPT FOR EAP/RSP/TC

USDOC FOR 6200/ITA/TD

FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ECON TW ESTH
SUBJECT: Diseased Pork Items Sold to Local Markets in
Southern Taiwan

REF: Taipei 2997


1. Summary. Inspectors of Chiayi's Ministry of Justice
Investigation Bureau (MJIB) recently raided an illegal
abattoir in Chiayi County in southern Taiwan and seized over
10,000 kg of diseased pork items. The two brothers who ran
the abattoir were arrested. The arrested suspects confessed
that they had been conducting illegal operations for over
two years. They bought diseased and dead pigs from the
area's hog raisers, cut the pigs into pieces, and sold the
portions to food processors and wholesalers in the Chiayi
and Yunlin areas in southern Taiwan. The two brothers were
charged for violating Taiwan's animal husbandry law and
waste cleaning law. End Summary.


2. Chiayi MJIB agents, who received a tip about the illegal
abattoir, visited the site and seized over 10,000 kg of
diseased pork items on August 18, 2005. MJIB agents
arrested two suspects who were running the unlicensed
abattoir, which was located in a small and isolated village.
The suspects confessed that they took over the abattoir from
their father two years ago. They usually procured inferior
pigs from local hog raisers, eliminated pig heads, skins,
and organs, and then cut the remaining parts into pieces,
and sold the meat to food processors. MJIB agents found
that the purchasers usually deeply fried the pork pieces,
cooked the meat with Chinese herbs, or made the pieces into
pork meat balls, which were then sold to venders at
traditional open markets in Southern Taiwan's Yunlin County,
Chiayi City, and Chiayi County.


3. MJIB agents also raided a food processing factory in
Yunlin and discovered several thousand kilograms of unsafe
pork which had already been made into ready-to-consume
dishes for sale. The investigation into this case is on
going and no arrests have been made to date.


4. Hung Shih-chao, Deputy Director of the MJIB Chiayi
office estimates that the raided abattoir has handled
approximately 300,000 kg of diseased hog meat in the past
two years. Hung noted that local hog raisers usually work
with local hog raising associations to dispose of dead pigs.
Secretary General Huang Kai-fang of the Chiayi County Hog

SIPDIS
Raising Association said that the Council of Agriculture
(COA) has assigned four plants operating in Yunlin County
and Tainan County to assist in properly disposing of the
diseased pigs. The Chiayi County Hog Raising Association
has signed contracts with two out of four plants in Yunlin
to provide assistance for its 240 members. Each member can
use the association's services free of charge, but the
members each pay the association NT$500/month (USD15).
According to Huang, the two plants handle approximately 110
tons of dead pigs each month. They usually transform the
dead pigs into fertilizers and animal feeds.


5. According to Huang, Taiwan's pig farms currently are
concentrated in the south: Pingtung County, Kaohsiung
County, Yunlin County, and in the Chiayi area. The pig
farms are currently raising around 6 million pigs total.
There are around 300 registered pig farms and about 100
smaller, unregistered farms in the Chiayi area. There are
currently about 400,000 pigs being raised in the Chiayi
area. Because of financial limits on efforts to enforce
regulations, some unregistered pig farms disregard COA's
guidelines on how to dispose of dead pigs, and instead sell
their sick and dead pigs to unlicensed abattoirs. Each sick
or dead pig sells for between NT$500 (USD15) and NT$1000
(USD30).


6. Huang noted that currently there are fewer pigs being
raised in Taiwan than in previous years. The eruption of
the foot-mouth-disease (FMD) caused a ban on exporting
Taiwan's pigs in 1998. Even though Taiwan's pigs are
vaccinated against the disease now, the ban is still in
place. Huang said that the local pigs have been growing
well since the introduction of the vaccine and he hopes that
the ban will be lifted soon in order to bring prosperity to
the local pig industry.


7. Comment. The present incident, along with the dioxin
contamination of fish and fowl in Southern Taiwan (reftel)
indicate that the local food supply is not entirely safe.
Moreover, converting diseased animals into livestock feed
can be a dangerous practice and does not fully eliminate the
possibility of disease from sick pigs entering the human
food supply. End Comment.

Thiele

Paal