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South Korea says finds hogs infected with foot-and-mouth
Published January 12, 2016
Three-and-a-half-month-old hogs are seen at Whiteshire Hamroc farm in Albion, Indiana, March 16, 2012. The animals here at the Whiteshire Hamroc farm have been bred for one purpose: to be flown halfway around the world, on a journey fueled by China's appetite for food independence. In a country where pork is a culinary staple, the demand for a protein-rich diet is growing faster than Chinese farmers can keep up. While Americans cut back on meat consumption to the lowest levels seen in two decades, the Chinese now eat nearly 10 percent more meat than they did five years ago. Picture taken March 16, 2012. To match INSIGHT USA-CHINA/FOOD REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES - Tags: FOOD AGRICULTURE BUSINESS ANIMALS) - RTR30Z0A (REUTERS/John Gress)
South Korea has detected foot-and-mouth in a southwestern hog farm, the first such discovery in nine months and a blow to authorities pushing to contain the disease.
The case involved a type of the disease that animals are inoculated against in South Korea, with all 670 hogs at the infected farm in the city of Gimje, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Seoul to be slaughtered, said an agriculture ministry official.
Another official at the ministry confirmed the new discovery of foot-and-mouth, without giving details.
South Korea struggled to contain foot and mouth after it was discovered in the country in July 2014, intensifying fears about food safety as the nation was also grappling with an outbreak of bird flu. But no new cases had been discovered since April last year.
The outbreak stoked pork imports, mainly from the United States and Germany, with shipments rising nearly 30 percent to around 423,000 tonnes between January and November 2015 from a year earlier, according to customs data.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/south-korea-says-finds-hogs-infected-with-foot-and-mouth