Post-swine flu, airline stops pork

Beijing, Nov. 23: China’s Xiamen airlines said it would stop serving pork on flights from November 24 due to African swine fever outbreaks, CAAC News, a publication run by China’s aviation regulator, reported on Friday.

The world’s top pig producer has reported more than 70 cases of the deadly disease since early August, including one outbreak found in wild boar.

China’s agriculture ministry on Friday confirmed the first cases of African swine fever in Beijing, a disease that has spread across the country despite efforts to contain it.

The disease was found on two farms in the Fangshan District in southwest Beijing where 86 out of more than 1,700 pigs died, the ministry said in a statement.

A special task force has since sealed off the farms for culling and disinfection while live pigs and pork products are barred from leaving the area.

Separately, senior ministry officials said during a briefing that 6,00,000 pigs have been culled since African swine fever was first detected in August in the world's biggest consumer and producer of pork.

It surfaced in northeastern Liaoning province but has now spread to 20 provinces with 73 cases reported.

“As you can see right now, the situation... is still very severe,” said deputy director of the bureau of husbandry and veterinary medicine Feng Zhongwu.

“China has frequent trade with affected countries with a huge amount of goods exchanged. Coupled with the long incubation period of the disease and the difficulty of detection, there is a high risk of the disease getting reintroduced.” — AFP