Hong Kong To Cull 6,000 Pigs In Swine Fever Scare

Hong Kong is culling 6,000 pigs after the city's first reported case of the African swine fever virus that has swept the mainland in recent months.

Officials reported on Friday that a pig imported from a farm in Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province had tested positive for the disease at the Sheung Shui slaughterhouse.

All pigs at the government-owned slaughterhouse are being culled to prevent the disease from spreading to the city's hog farms. The facility will be closed until cleaning and disinfection work is completed.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan played down concerns about human health.

"We would like to reiterate that [African swine fever] will not be transmitted to human and hence posing no food safety risk. Well-cooked pork is safe for consumption," she said.

"We will enhance the surveillance and testing of pigs. Currently, we collect samples from pigs with [African swine fever] symptoms for testing. In the future, we will step up the sampling of other pigs for testing."

The Tsuen Wan slaughterhouse will remain open, and officials do not expect pork supplies to be affected.

More than one million pigs have been culled on the mainland since the outbreak began in August. Pork prices have soared by more than 14 per cent year on year, helping push the inflation rate on the mainland up from 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent.

"We believe the rapid spread of African Swine Fever since August 2018 could help push up pork prices by another 40 percent over the next six months," said Lu Ting of Nomura bank.

"The rise of CPI inflation is being driven by a surge in pork prices as a result of a supply shock," he said in a research note. (RTHK/AFP)