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China

Bay Of Pigs: Toll Of Dead Pigs In Shanghai River Nears 6000

SINA, CHINA DAILY, JIAXING DAILY (China) BBC (UK)

Worldcrunch

SHANGHAI – The first reports came Sunday, and were shocking enough: more than 1000 dead pigs were fished out of Huangpu River in Shanghai, China Daily reported. But by Wednesday the count was approaching 6,000.

According to the labels pinned in the ears of the pigs which are used to trace their information, the dead pigs come from the upstream waters of the Huangpu River located in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. More particularly from the Jiaxing city area in Zhejiang province, where many pigs died in the first 2 months of the year according to local media.

China Daily reports that tests have revealed that some pigs may have died from porcine circovirus, a common pig disease. Authorities in Shanghai on Tuesday night, put the number of recovered pigs at 5916.

Hunan province TV Channel news (Youku)

According to Sina, the municipal government is very concerned about the dead pig toll rate, but ruled out mass swine epidemic. “No abnormal animal epidemic was reported in Jiaxing” said Jiang Hao, the deputy secretary of the city’s veterinary department, at a news conference on Tuesday.

According to Jiaxing Daily, almost all of the 1400 families in Jiaxing’s Zhulin village are pig farmers. In January, 10078 pigs died and another 8325 died in February. Jiang refused to confirm these numbers, and said they have to be officially verified.

Sina reports that Zhang Jiangguo, a businessman specialized in pig farming, said that “Pigs get sick easily due to the cold weather, especially when they lack good protection”.

According to China Daily, most of the dead pigs retrieved in Shanghai have been buried in 7-meter-deep holes and covered with at least three meters of thick soil. Some carcasses were incinerated.

Shanghai municipal government said in statement that after testing the water in the river, it was safe and no diseased pork were detected in markets, reports the BBC

Shanghai Huangpu River is the main water source of the city, it is well-known for its iconic waterfront in the centre of the city, the Bund. To many, it has come to symbolize the new modern China .

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Society

Italy's Right-Wing Government Turns Up The Heat On 'Gastronationalism'

Rome has been strongly opposed to synthetic foods, insect-based flours and health warnings on alcohol, and aggressive lobbying by Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government against nutritional labeling has prompted accusations in Brussels of "gastronationalism."

Dough is run through a press to make pasta

Creation of home made pasta

Karl De Meyer et Olivier Tosseri

ROME — On March 23, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, announced that Rome would ask UNESCO to recognize Italian cuisine as a piece of intangible cultural heritage.

On March 28, Lollobrigida, who is also Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's brother-in-law, promised that Italy would ban the production, import and marketing of food made in labs, especially artificial meat — despite the fact that there is still no official request to market it in Europe.

Days later, Italian Eurodeputy Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and member of the Forza Italia party, which is part of the governing coalition in Rome, caused a sensation in the European Parliament. On the sidelines of the plenary session, Sophia Loren's niece organized a wine tasting, under the slogan "In Vino Veritas," to show her strong opposition (and that of her government) to an Irish proposal to put health warnings on alcohol bottles. At the end of the press conference, around 11am, she showed her determination by drinking from the neck of a bottle of wine, to great applause.

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