China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has linked the country’s early cases of African swine fever to the feeding of kitchen waste.
The ministry has now banned the practice, which it said caused 62 percent of the first 21 outbreaks. There have been more than 40 outbreaks across China since August.
“These outbreaks were mostly located in urban-rural boundaries, and were particularly evident in several cases in early September in Anhui province,” a statement from the ministry said. It also said the virus was detected in kitchen waste fed to pigs on a farm in Inner Mongolia.
“After the provinces with outbreaks and neighboring provinces completely banned feeding of kitchen waste to pigs, the epidemic was greatly reduced, which fully demonstrates the importance of completely prohibiting the feeding of waste,” the statement said.
Because kitchen waste is cheaper than animal feed, many small farmers use it to feed their pigs. But the law says food waste must be heat-treated to kill bacteria or disease, but that step is often skipped.
Transportation monitoring
The agriculture ministry also said it would set up a registration system to monitor vehicles that transport hogs, poultry and other livestock to better control the spread of disease. China previously had banned transporting live hogs or pig products from areas bordering a province with an outbreak.
View our continuing coverage of the African swine fever outbreak.
