'Feeding kitchen waste to pigs' has been formally written into a ban, severing the African swine fever transmission chain.
In fact this rule is not new. As early as 2018, the General Office of the State Council issued a notice prohibiting the feeding of swine with kitchen leftovers nationwide. Integrating the rules into the environmental code this time raises the legal level and regulatory strength.
The main driver was the painful lesson of African swine fever. The disease has no specific drug or vaccine; once infected, mortality approaches 100%. The virus can survive for years at low temperature and weeks at room temperature, and can only be fully killed by sustained heating above 70 degrees C for over 30 minutes. Swill mixed with all kinds of meat residue is an ideal carrier. Tracing 219 ASF outbreaks from 2008 to 2012 worldwide found nearly half were caused by swill feeding. In China, of the earliest 21 ASF outbreaks in 2018, 62% were directly linked to feeding pigs kitchen waste.
That nationwide epidemic led to mass culling, a sharp drop in production and soaring pork prices, making 'pork freedom' an internet catchphrase. Farmers tempted by saving feed money faced huge losses once hit by disease trivial compared with the epidemic's toll.
Under the new rules, the key target is collecting commercial swill from restaurants and cafeterias to feed pigs. Small amounts of leftovers from one's own kitchen used to feed a pig or two are mostly handled humanely in enforcement and not directly punished, but care must still be taken not to feed unknown-source kitchen waste.
On penalties: farming ends using untreated kitchen waste to feed pigs can be fined up to 100,000 yuan; serious cases can be ordered to close and fined up to 1 million. If catering outlets privately sell kitchen waste to swill collectors, they face similarly heavy fines, with unit fines starting at 100,000 yuan. There are already real cases of farmers punished for hauling restaurant swill to feed pigs.
The hardest hit are rural backyard farmers; large-scale farms long ago switched to complete compound feed and avoid outside swill. Counting it up, saving a little feed money gambles the entire herd being wiped out not worth it.
The ban does not entirely reject kitchen-waste resource use. After complete standardized harmless treatment, reaching safety standards with full records, swill can be fed to pigs in limited proportion. In future, local kitchen waste should be handed to qualified enterprises and converted into biogas, organic fertilizer and industrial oils truly turning waste into treasure.
This law aims to cut the black-interest chain of 'swill pigs' and 'gutter oil,' safeguarding animal disease prevention and food safety. We do not want to relive the 2018-2019 swine-fever pain, nor want pork on the table hiding bacteria and antibiotic residues. Old experience cannot be forced onto new rules; pork may cost a bit more, but the public deserves to eat with peace of mind and clarity.
