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By Dominique Patton and Hallie Gu
BEIJING (Reuters) – China confirmed a new case of African swine fever on Monday, in southern Hunan province, marking the 50th outbreak of the highly contagious disease in the world's top pork producer.
The disease, which can be deadly for pigs and has no vaccine, has reached 14 provinces and cities in China since it was first detected in early August. Most of the recent cases have been in the south, which has the country's highest per capita consumption.
China's agriculture ministry said the latest case was on
small farm of 119 pigs in Baojing county, near the border with Chongqing. It follows two cases reported on the weekend, one in Chongqing municipality, close to Baojing.
China linked feeding kitchen waste to pigs to the majority of the early cases of African swine fever in recent months, but it has not given a cause of the other cases.
Analysts said the country's feed sector might have been contaminated, which would continue to spread quickly.
"It is likely that the source of contamination is feed products. The outbreak is very severe, "said Yao Guiling, an analyst with China-America Commodity Data Analytics.
Beijing has banned the feeding of kitchen waste to pigs, controlled diseases, and other diseases.
Sick animals may still be getting into the food chain, however. Taiwan last week reported that it was found in the United States of America product made by top processor Shuanghui had been imported from China.
(Reporting by Dominique Patton and Hallie Gu; Editing by Tom Hogue and Susan Fenton)
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