JAKARTA: The Indonesian city of Batam is conducting a citywide inspection on pig farms and pig sties, after a consignment of live pigs exported from the city to neighbouring Singapore was found to be infected with the African swine fever virus.
Mr Mardanis, the chief of Batam’s food security and agriculture agency, said that last month’s discovery of the African swine fever virus prompted authorities to stop all live pigs and carcasses from leaving Pulau Bulan.
“Not only was export to Singapore disrupted, (pig) supply to Batam city was also affected,” Mr Mardanis, who goes by one name, told CNA.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said on Apr 20 that pig carcasses originating from a farm in Pulau Bulan, just off Batam’s main island, were found to be infected with the virus.
Carcasses as well as live pigs supplied from the Indonesian island were subsequently removed from slaughterhouses across Singapore.
Singapore has also stopped the import of live pigs from Pulau Bulan, which constitutes around 15 per cent of the country’s pork supply.
Pulau Bulan is the site of a large-scale pig farm owned by agribusiness company, Indotirta Suaka. According to data from Batam Agriculture Agency, the 1,500 ha farm is capable of exporting 240,000 pigs a year to Singapore.
Last week, a team of Indonesian veterinarians was sent to collect samples from the farm to be tested at a laboratory in Sumatra. The test confirmed that pigs in the farm were infected by the African swine fever virus.