TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The fitting of food waste trucks with GPS will start on Dec. 7 in a move to prevent the spread of African swine fever, reports said Saturday.

The government made the decision after an outbreak of the virus in Taichung last month. While no other cases were found, it was thought that the feeding of hogs with kitchen waste might have played a part in the outbreak.

The Ministry of Environment had initially set Nov. 18 as the deadline for the GPS, the Liberty Times reported. However, hog farmers said they were unable to meet that deadline, leading the government to postpone the measure until early next month.

Farmers will not be barred from feeding kitchen waste to their animals. However, they will have to install monitoring equipment to ensure they are following the correct procedures.

There had been complaints that there were no clear standards for the GPS equipment, with little time left for farmers to find the right products. A farm with 1,000 animals needs at least 10 tonnes of food waste per day, requiring two visits by a truck, reports said.