Taiwan culls pigs after foot-and-mouth-disease outbreak

Some 68 pigs at a farm in central Yunlin county showed symptoms of the disease Feb. 4, and an outbreak in neighbouring Changhua was reported five days later, an official at the Council of Agriculture's animal quarantine division said.

A total of 677 pigs were culled after the disease was confirmed, while the farms were disinfected, he added.

Taiwan, which exports US$3.2 million worth of raw pork to Singapore annually, has suspended exports there.

It doesn't t export the product anywhere else.

The last outbreak of food-and-mouth disease on the island was in 1997 when more than three million pigs were slaughtered.

Foot-and-mouth is a severe, highly contagious viral disease which affects cattle, pigs, sheep and other cloven-hoofed livestock.

It isn't usually fatal, but an outbreak leads to losses in the production of meat and milk.