By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said it would propose installing additional X-ray devices and deploying more sniffer dogs to ensure that all luggage entering Taiwan is checked at customs as part of its efforts to keep African swine fever at bay. However, customs officials still intercepted smuggled meat on 84 occasions from Dec. 18 to Sunday, including 26 pork products from China, council data showed. If its proposal is passed on Friday at a meeting of the Cabinet’s Emergency Operations Center established to oversee efforts to prevent African swine fever from entering Taiwan, the additions would be deployed in the second half of this month at the earliest, Huang said. Meanwhile, the council said that crab meat was not known to transmit the African swine fever virus, so it does not have to undergo quarantine measures at customs. The Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper on Sunday reported that crabs might be a way through for the virus, despite the council’s efforts.

Source: Taipei Times December 31, 2018 15:56 UTC