TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Pingtung County's agriculture department fined a Chaozhou Township pig farm NT$400,000 (US$12,400) on Thursday for illegally feeding kitchen waste to pigs.
The county government said the department received a report on April 14 and joined other inspection units to check the farm. Inspectors found vegetable waste being boiled at the site.
Officials said the farm kept fewer than 20 pigs. The operator, surnamed Chiang (江), told inspectors the waste came from a vegetarian restaurant and had been taken back to the farm for use as feed.
Officials said the waste was still considered kitchen waste under the law because the operator could not provide proof of a legal reuse source or the required records. They said kitchen waste may carry disease risks during collection, transport, and storage, even if it is plant-based.
CNA reported that Pingtung’s animal disease control office collected samples from the kitchen waste and took pig blood samples twice. All tests for African swine fever were negative.
The county still placed the farm under movement controls and disinfected the site and nearby roads as a precaution.
Agriculture Department Director Li Yung-wen (李永文) said farmers who want to use plant-based waste as feed must follow legal reuse rules. He said farms that receive waste without proper source documents are still considered to be using kitchen waste, per CTS News.
Li said rules also ban pig farms with 199 pigs or fewer from using kitchen waste as feed. The Chaozhou farm was fined NT$200,000 under animal disease prevention rules and another NT$200,000 under feed safety rules.
