Packets of shredded chicken confiscated by Kaohsiung police last week have been found to contain pork and have tested positive for the African swine fever (ASF) virus, the city's Agriculture Bureau said Sunday.
Kaohsiung police seized 40 packets of shredded chicken and 20 packets of beef jerky weighing a combined 17 kilograms in the dorm room of a Vietnamese migrant worker on Aug. 23, and the shredded chicken has tested positive for the ASF virus.
ASF is a highly contagious, incurable disease that infects pigs, and there is no vaccine against it. The disease cannot be transmitted from pigs to humans and is not a threat to human health.
Taiwan has been on high alert against ASF after 71 kilograms of banned imported meat products from Vietnam were seized in New Taipei last week and were later found to contain the ASF virus.
An officer from Gangshan Precinct in Kaohsiung said Sunday that the police suspect the ASF-infected meat found in Kaohsiung could have been imported by the two Vietnamese women suspected of smuggling the meat confiscated in New Taipei. The women have been detained since Aug. 23.
The precinct will continue to look into the case and will refer it to the Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office if necessary, the precinct said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel