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The price of pork continues to surge across China because of supply shortages driven by the poor handling of African swine fever Chinese people are looking for alternatives, including dog and rabbit, as the country’s most popular meat becomes unaffordable African swine fever has swept through China’s pig population, leading to mass culls that are expected to take years to recover from. Photo: AFPAfrican swine fever has swept through China’s pig population, leading to mass culls that are expected to take years to recover from. Photo: AFP African swine fever has swept through China’s pig population, leading to mass culls...

Bad news bacon lovers. Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s biggest pork producer, is warning that an outbreak of African swine fever wiping out hog farms in China could result in a stateside shortage of pig belly and even ham next year. Though the crisis hasn’t impacted the U.S. market yet, that that could change as China is forced to increase imports to satisfy demand in 2020, Bloomberg reports. The Chinese “are insatiable in their appetite for pork,” Arnold Silver, director of raw materials procurement at Smithfield, said at the Urner Barry Global Protein Summit in Chicago earlier this week....

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials seized 1 million pounds of pork products at the Newark, New Jersey maritime point of entry Friday. The meat is believed to have been smuggled from China, where there is currently an outbreak of the African swine fever (ASF). During a Friday news conference, officials announced the seizure of over 50 shipping containers containing pork products. "Agriculture specialists made a critical interception of these prohibited animal products, and stopped them from entering the US before they could potentially cause grave damage," Troy Miller, director of CBP field operations for the cities of New...