China on Wednesday said its slaughterhouses will need to run tests for the African swine fever (ASF) virus on pig products before selling them to the market, Reuters reported.
The announcement from China’s agriculture ministry comes amid a new outbreak of the disease on the largest farm to date. The farm, with 73,000 pigs, is in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the report said.
Among the new slaughterhouse regulations, effective Feb. 1, pigs from different origins must be slaughtered separately, and, if ASF is found, facilities must cull all pigs and suspend operations for at least 48 hours.
Last month, China warned Hong Kong and Macau to check animal feed imports after finding the virus in protein powder made from pig blood, and it halted shipments of live pigs to those destinations from 18 ASF-affected farms.
China has reported more than 90 cases of ASF since August.
Source : Meatingplace