April 30, 2009

South Korea will ban live pig imports from North America as a precautionary measure to protect the country from the rapidly spreading swine flu epidemic, the government said Tuesday (Apr 28).

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MFAFF) said the measures will go into effect as of Wednesday (Apr 29), with imports from other regions to undergo detailed tests.

The decision was made after farm Minister Chang Tae-pyong briefed President Lee Myung-bak on the latest developments related to the swine flu outbreak and was told to swiftly implement solid actions to decrease public concerns.

Seoul had already implemented heightened quarantine inspection rules for all imported live pigs and pork, including detailed blood tests to detect the variant strain of the type-A H1N1 virus.

The swine flu is estimated to have claimed around 150 lives in Mexico and caused a large number of people to fall sick in the US, Canada, some European countries and New Zealand, with South Korea citing a probable case.

The exact cause of the deadly strain is not known, but scientists have said the latest swine flu is a mix of flu viruses from two different types of pigs, bird flu and human flu, and it is transmitted among humans. No hogs have tested positive for the virulent virus strain found in people.

The ministry in charge of livestock and food said rumours that pig intestines could transmit the swine flu virus to humans are incorrect since there are no documented cases of meat causing the sickness.

Both the World Organisation for Animal Health and World Health Organisation said pork meat is safe to eat and that there is no risk to humans from eating pork, adding that government inspectors are already checking all pork products carefully, and there is no need to take extra measures or block imports.