March 12, 2013

A police campaign to control the illegal trade of diseased pig parts has sparked off a surge in the disposal of pig carcasses into the waters of Shanghai, China, with more than 2,800 bodies floating into the financial hub this week.

The effort to curb infected pork may be fuelling new health concerns, as residents and local media fret over the possibility of pollution to the city's water supply.

Authorities have been pulling out decomposing carcasses since last week.

On March 11, Shanghai officials said that the number of carcasses retrieved had reached 2,813. The city government, citing monitoring authorities, said that the drinking water quality has not been affected.

While unclear about the cause of death, Shanghai's Agriculture Committee revealed that they have detected a occasionally-fatal pig disease in at least one of the carcasses. The disease is associated with the porcine circovirus, which is widespread in pigs but doesn't affect humans or other livestock.

According to Shanghai's city government, initial investigations had found that the carcasses had originated from Jiaxing city in the neighbouring Zhejiang province.