Some things you need to know about the African Swine Flu

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Swine

What is African Swine Fever? It is a highly contagious disease that is fatal to pigs and not humans. Till date, there is no antidote or vaccine for this plague and the only way to contain the spread is to cull the affected animals.

The African Swine Fever (ASF) primarily originated in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in recent years, it has spread to other parts of the world, including Asia, with the most recent case of an outbreak in Laos. Other countries affected include Cambodia, Hong Kong, Mongolia, North Korea and Vietnam.

Since the outbreaks, countries affected, have mobilised resources to help combat further spread.

Meanwhile, unaffected countries like Malaysia are taking precautionary measures, including the import of pigs and pork products from China, Poland and Belgium, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Pork prices have begun to soar since said the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization. It is likely to have a noticeable impact on meat and feed markets worldwide, the organization added.

While vaccines against ASF is under development, you do not have to worry about ASF in Singapore. 

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) requires sources exporting raw pork to Singapore to be free from ASF and has suspended pork imports from affected sources. As ASF can be inactivated with sufficient heat treatment, SFA ensures that the imported pork is sufficiently treated with heat from approved establishments.

At the end of the day, you can still enjoy your char siew rice, but if you feel safer, not eating pork, by all means.


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If you’d like to contribute your story to us, drop us an email at editors@sureboh.sg and we’ll review it. We read each submission that comes to us within two weeks of receiving it.

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