African swine fever border measures Strengthen penalties for illegally bringing in meat products June 28, 10:56
In order to prevent the outbreak of ASF (African swine fever), an infectious swine disease that is spreading in Asia, in Japan, penalties for illegal import of meat products will be strengthened from 1st July.
ASF = African swine fever is an infectious disease of swine that is spreading in Asia such as China, and in January this year a new outbreak was confirmed in India.
Under these circumstances, the fines for illegal imports will be significantly raised from the first day of next month to prevent the ASF virus from being imported into Japan through meat products.
The amount of fines will be 3 million yen or less for individuals, up to 3 times, and 50 million yen for corporations, up to 50 times.
Penalties have been strengthened because it is feared that the livestock industry would be hit hard once it occurs domestically because there is no effective vaccine in ASF.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has created a new poster to publicize the enforcement of penalties and warns that immigration may not be permitted if you illegally own meat products.
In addition, we will strengthen the quarantine system by increasing the number of detection dogs that sniff meat products at airports and other places to 140 at the end of this year, which is 2.6 times the current level.