Dressed in protective gear, investigators descend on pig farms in central Taiwan. They’re trying to figure out what caused a sudden outbreak of African Swine Fever at a farm in Taichung last month, just one year after the country had been declared free of the highly contagious disease.  

Taiwan has strict border controls to keep illnesses like this one coming in. That’s made finding the source of this outbreak much harder. But authorities think they’ve found an answer.

The possible sources of infection including humans, vehicles and pigs have all been ruled out. The only likely source of the outbreak is the failure to properly steam kitchen waste used as feed.

Feed made from kitchen waste is a common, cheaper alternative to regular feed, but it must be heated to above 90 degrees Celsius for over an hour to kill germs that could be deadly to pigs.  

Testing shows that nearly 40% of pigs given kitchen waste feed at the farm where the outbreak happened had died. That’s compared to just 2.5% of those given regular feed. Investigators say the farm appeared to lack the proper equipment to heat the feed to meet safety standards.

We found that the steaming equipment, especially at the outbreak site, was not actually in operation. Even when the military tried to test it, they spent a long time trying to fix it but weren’t able to repair it, which indicates the equipment was just for show.

It appears that the farm tried to falsify records of food waste sterilization, and there were discrepancies in orders of the fuel they typically use to heat the food.

The owner claimed they used wood as an alternative, but experts say it might not have met safety standards, causing the pigs to fall sick.

The farm claimed to use leftover wood from renovations as fuel, but there’s no proof of how much fuel they used or whether they’d be able to heat the food waste to meet safety standards.

Authorities say they hope to contain the outbreak as quickly as possible. All other farms have tested negative for the virus, and a temporary ban on the slaughter and transport of live pigs is set to end later this week.

Pork is one of Taiwan’s staple products, and African Swine Fever cannot be transmitted to humans. Still, many are thinking twice about eating pork and farmers are already feeling the effects of a drop in demand.

Authorities are urging pork producers around the country to take it as a lesson to follow safety standards, since even one case could put the entire industry in jeopardy.

Dolphine Chen and Tiffany Wong for TaiwanPlus.