BANGKOK (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Grocery shopping in Thailand these days involves more careful thinking and calculating for shoppers like insurance agent Piyanan Laohabut, who has watched the prices of pork products rise steadily in the last few months.
The Department of Livestock Development has sent samples of pigs' blood from both farms and slaughterhouses to be tested for African swine fever (ASF) in a bid to verify whether the country's meat industry is suffering from an outbreak of the deadly virus.
Thai authorities said on Tuesday African swine fever had been detected in a surface swab sample collected at a slaughterhouse in Nakhon Pathom province, marking the country's first official confirmation of the disease.