The federal government seizes millions of pounds of Chinese pork smuggling

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ended Friday the attempt to smuggle one million pounds of pork from China to a port in New Jersey, resulting in the largest seizure of agricultural products. American history. This follows the swine fever (ASF) plaguing China and devastated the pig population of the world's largest pork producing country.

"It was very orchestrated," said Stephen Maloney, Acting Director of the Customs Port and Border Patrol for the Port of New York / Newark. He said that it was a concerted effort to conceal a product.
More than 100 CBP agricultural specialists and K-9 teams worked on the discovery of banned foods. Pork has been smuggled in a variety of ways, from Ramen noodle bowls to Tide detergent containers, said Basil Liakakos, an assistant agriculture specialist.

In some cases, the package of the shipment corresponded to the products of the manifesto, authorities said, but the content inside was prohibited to pork. In other cases, the pork was simply packaged among the other products.
CBP teams are working to keep ASF, a highly transmissible, deadly porcine virus out of the United States. ASF does not affect humans, but spreads quickly to domestic pigs and wild boars. The PPA virus survives 150 to 180 days in fresh meat. In frozen meat, reports indicate that the virus can live indefinitely.

Officials have announced this seizure of more than 50 containers at a press conference Friday morning in a warehouse in Elizabeth, New Jersey. According to an article in NJ.com, three rooms were filled with packets of pork products illegally smuggled.

"Agricultural scientists have critically intercepted these banned animal products and prevented them from entering the United States before they could potentially cause serious damage," said Troy Miller, director of operations in the field of customs and border protection in New York / Newark.

Once all 50 shipping containers have been examined, the confiscated products will be cremated, Miller said. Anthony Bucci, CBP Public Affairs Specialist, told Bloomberg it was an ongoing investigation.

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