Travellers carrying pork may be barred from Taiwan
New regulations could deny border entry to foreigners found illegally carrying meat products, Taiwan's Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Lee Tui-chih said last week.
Lee made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying and other lawmakers asked him to comment on quarantine policy regarding pork products from areas affected by African swine fever.
The disease was first reported in China in August, and the council last week increased the fine for importing pork from affected regions to NT$200,000 from NT$50,000 for the first offence.
The fine’s deterrence ability is questionable, as about 80 percent of travellers caught with pork from areas affected by the disease were Chinese or Vietnamese, who as foreigners could ignore the fines, Chiu said.
The government should instead be authorised to bar those caught with illegal meat products from entering the nation, she said.
Source: Taipei Times
