Year Of The Pig Cleaning Planned At Abattoirs

Hong Kong pork traders may welcome in the Year of the Pig by scrubbing the city's slaughterhouses.

They said they are planning to use the holiday to take the opportunity to thoroughly clean the abbatoirs in Sheung Shui and Tsuen Wan.

The lawmaker representing the agriculture and fisheries sector, Steven Ho, said pork traders are planning such the action as they think it will restore public confidence in the sector in light of the African swine fever outbreak on the mainland.

Ho said the pork traders are planning to stop slaughtering pigs from February 5 to 7 during the cleaning of the slaughterhouses.

The Secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan, said the trade has notified the government of its plan. She said authorities will liaise with the traders on the matter.

Hundreds of thousands of pigs have been culled on the mainland due to a widespread outbreak of African swine fever, which is harmless to humans but fatal for pigs.

There have been fears that the virus may spread to Hong Kong from the mainland as some southern provinces have reported outbreaks.