June 10, 2024

Pulau Bulan, Indonesia pig farm yet to get approval to export to Singapore

A farm in Pulau Bulan, Indonesia, that supplies two-thirds of Singapore's freshly slaughtered pork, has still not received approval to resume the export of live pigs to the country.

Exports stopped on April 19, 2023, after Singapore detected African swine fever (ASF) in a consignment of pigs from the island, located in the Riau Islands province.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) told The Straits Times on June 5 that they will work with Indonesia's Directorate-General of Livestock and Animal Health Services to assess if and when live pig imports will resume.

A SFA spokeswoman said in an e-mail reply that imports can resume after SFA and AVS have assessed and confirmed that pigs in the farm are free of ASF.

"This would be done through evaluation of the farm's cleaning and disinfection measures, biosecurity measures put in place, (and) surveillance of the pigs restocked on the farm," she said.

"We will verify these and begin official assessment of the farm for the resumption of exports via documentary assessments and on-site inspections, once the farm has completed re-stocking and put in place the necessary measures."

Exports from the farm account for 15% of Singapore's total pork supply.

In a Facebook post on May 9, 2023, SFA wrote that it could take up to a year before the Indonesian farm could export live pigs to Singapore, after the detection of ASF in a consignment. This was the first time that ASF had been detected in pigs imported into the country.

- The Straits Times