By NOBUFUMI YAMADA/ Staff Writer
February 18, 2025 at 18:37 JST
Quarantine authorities are increasingly on alert for African swine fever (ASF), a pig disease with a nearly 100 percent fatality rate that has spread to almost all areas surrounding Japan.
The strengthened border control measures include deploying sniffer dogs to the front lines.
According to preliminary figures of the agriculture ministry’s Animal Quarantine Service, 199,266 prohibited meat products, such as jerky and sausages made of pork or chicken, were confiscated at Japan’s border in fiscal 2023.
Quarantine detector dogs detected about 40 percent of them.
ASF does not affect humans, but if a pig gets infected with the virus, it is nearly certain to die. There is no effective vaccine present in Japan.
According to Katsuaki Sugiura, a project professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, there have been reported cases of pigs and wild boars being infected with the ASF virus by eating uncooked meat or meat products that have been illegally brought into certain countries.
“If wild boars get infected with the ASF virus and the virus settles in Japan, it will take a long time for disinfection work, and it may have a huge impact on the pig farming industry,” Sugiura said.
In China, where AFS was first identified in 2018, the pig population dropped by about 40 percent due to deaths from infections or culling. The price of pork more than doubled.
At the end of 2023, an AFS infection was confirmed in Busan, the first such case in South Korea. Carcasses of wild boars infected to the virus were later found near a ferry terminal where boats depart from South Korea to Japan.
As of Jan. 3, ASF had spread to 20 Asian countries and regions, except for Japan and Taiwan.
By the end of 2024, customs officials in Japan reported 255 cases of the ASF virus in sausages and other products that were brought into Japan from China, the Philippines and other countries as carry-on luggage or through international mail.
In four of the cases, the viruses were active.
Border controls against ASF are particularly strict in Kyushu, which raises more than 30 percent of the 8.8 million pigs in Japan.
Officials at airports in the region ensure that arriving individuals wipe the soles of their shoes on disinfectant mats.
Quarantine detection dogs patrol the ports, and fliers and streaming videos in English and Chinese urge travelers not to bring meat or meat products into Japan.
Narumi Yoshioka, the head of the Fukuoka Airport sub-branch of the Animal Quarantine Service, trusts the quarantine detector dogs.
“They are our important partners whose sense of smell can detect illegal meat products,” Yoshioka said.
At Fukuoka Airport, these dogs have shifts and take breaks between their tasks.
To help the dogs concentrate on their important work, Yoshioka asked travelers, “Please do not talk to them or touch them when you see them.”
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A quarantine detector dog sniffs meat and meat products inside suitcases and bags at the Fukuoka Airport on Jan. 31. (Masaru Komiyaji)
