It is known that the 56-year-old female passenger came to Taiwan to visit relatives and brought some food, including 2 banh tet cakes containing unquarantined pork.
Two Vietnamese tourists' banh tet with pork filling contained unquarantined pork.
According to Taiwan's Animal and Plant Quarantine Bureau (BAPHIQ), the woman was found carrying meat-filled banh tet but did not declare it to customs and was fined 200,000 TWD (150 million VND). Due to not having enough money to pay the fine, she was sent back to her home country the same day. This is the first case of being sent back to the country since February 15, when Taiwan issued regulations to check the luggage of all passengers from Vietnam and fine those found carrying meat products due to concerns about the spread of African swine fever.
Taiwan imposes heavy fines on any tourist bringing pork or pork products from areas with epidemics.
Taiwanese authorities are checking whether the above-mentioned passenger's banh tet contained the African swine fever virus. Taiwanese authorities have also increased the fine for those who bring undeclared meat products into the country. Accordingly, the first violation will be fined 200,000 TWD and the fine increases to 1 million TWD (more than 750 million VND) for the second violation.
Previously, since the beginning of February, Taiwan began strict checks at international airports, since the time a Vietnamese tourist carrying a loaf of bread tested positive for African swine fever virus.
More information:
After China and Mongolia, Vietnam was the next Asian country to be hit by African swine fever (ASF) in February. This is a highly contagious and fatal disease for pigs. Previously, many new ASF cases were detected in late February in provinces and cities in China, including Guangxi - which borders Vietnam in the north, Yunnan, Hebei and Inner Mongolia.
