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Food scraps getting the blame for African Swine Fever outbreak

China says the outbreak of African swine fever likely stems from the feeding of food scraps to pigs. China’s agriculture ministry Wednesday moved to ban the feeding of kitchen waste to pigs after more than 40 outbreaks of the disease have been reported since early August. China has not said how the disease first entered the country, but officials found 62 percent of the first 21 outbreaks were related to the feeding of kitchen waste, according to Reuters. Kitchen waste is widely used in China to feed hogs, particularly by small farmers, as it is cheaper than feed. Regulations require the kitchen waste to be heated before being fed to pigs, but experts say that step is often skipped. China also said it will set up a registration system for vehicles transporting live hogs, poultry and other livestock to control the spread of the disease.


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