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Reportedly, the 56-year-old female passenger was visiting relatives in Taiwan and brought along some food items, including two glutinous rice cakes (bánh tét) with fillings of pork that had not been inspected.
Two Vietnamese tourists' sticky rice cakes filled with pork contained pork that had not been inspected.
According to Taiwan's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ), the woman was found carrying meat-filled rice cakes without declaring them to customs and was fined 200,000 TWD (approximately 150 million VND). Unable to pay the fine, she was deported back to Vietnam the same day. This is the first case of deportation since February 15th, when Taiwan implemented regulations to inspect the luggage of all passengers from Vietnam and impose fines for meat products found due to concerns about the spread of African swine fever.
Taiwan imposes strict penalties on any traveler bringing in pork or pork products from areas affected by disease outbreaks.
Taiwanese authorities are investigating whether the rice cake carried by the aforementioned passenger contained the African swine fever virus. Taiwanese officials have also increased penalties for bringing undeclared meat products into the country. The first offense will result in a fine of 200,000 TWD, and the fine increases to 1 million TWD (over 750 million VND) for subsequent offenses.
Previously, since the beginning of February, Taiwan had begun stricter checks at international airports, following the discovery of a Vietnamese tourist carrying a loaf of bread that tested positive for African swine fever.
Additional information:
Following China and Mongolia, Vietnam became the next Asian country to be hit by African Swine Fever (ASF) in February. This highly contagious disease is fatal to pigs. Prior to this, several new cases of ASF were detected in late February in various provinces and cities in China, including Guangxi – which borders Vietnam to the north – Yunnan, Hebei, and Inner Mongolia.
