Taipei: Taiwan's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) on Friday removed Finland from its list of African swine fever (ASF)-free areas and warned that anyone caught importing pork products from Finland could face penalties, after the country confirmed domestic ASF cases. According to Focus Taiwan, the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) for ASF announced that the Finnish Food Authority had reported the detection of ASF on Thursday. Preliminary tests carried out on the carcasses of three wild boar piglets discovered in Virolahti, a municipality in southeastern Finland, returned positive results for ASF. In response to the detection, the Finnish government has set up a containment zone around the affected area to control the movement of domestic pigs, as per the authority's website. Consequently, Taiwan's Animal and Plant Health Agency has added Finland to its list of ASF high-risk countries and those with reported domestic ASF cases in the last three years. Effective immediately, as of Friday, the MOA has ban ned the import of live pigs and pork products from Finland. Any imports that violate these new regulations will either be sent back to Finland or destroyed, as stated by the ministry. MOA statistics indicate that Taiwan imported 985 metric tons of pork products from Finland between January and June this year. The CEOC for ASF has issued a similar warning to travelers, advising against bringing pork products from Finland into Taiwan. Despite the absence of direct flights between the two countries, there remains a risk of pork products being mailed from Finland to Taiwan. The CEOC has appealed to the public to support Taiwan in maintaining its self-declared ASF-free status with the World Organisation for Animal Health.
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