The statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is
the government's first comment on how the deadly disease has spread
in the world's top pork producer.
China has reported more than 40 outbreaks of the highly contagious
disease since early August, with farms across 12 provinces and
municipalities already infected.
Beijing has not yet said how the disease first entered the country
but the Ministry found 62 percent of the first 21 outbreaks were
related to the feeding of kitchen waste, according to a statement
published on its website.
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"These outbreaks were mostly located in urban-rural boundaries, and
were particularly evident in several cases in early September in
Anhui province," the statement said. Anhui is an eastern province
whose capital Hefei is located about 415 km (258 miles) west of
Shanghai.
The virus was also detected in kitchen waste fed to pigs on a farm
in the Inner Mongolia region, it added.
"After the provinces with outbreaks and neighboring provinces
completely banned feeding of kitchen waste to pigs, the epidemic was
greatly reduced, which fully demonstrates the importance of
completely prohibiting the feeding of waste," the statement said.
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Kitchen waste or swill is widely used in China to feed hogs,
particularly by small farmers, as it is cheaper than manufactured
pig feed.
Regulations require that the swill must be heated to a certain
temperature before being consumed but industry experts say that step
is often skipped.
The ministry also said in the statement that it will set up a
registration system for vehicles transporting live hogs, poultry and
other livestock, to better control the spread of the disease.
The long distance transport of live hogs has been the main channel
for transmitting African swine fever across different regions, it
said.
For a graphic on Swine fever in China, see - https://tmsnrt.rs/2PDt6Ud
(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger)
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