A father and son who operate the pig farm in Taichung's Wuqi District where
an outbreak of African swine fever originated have been detained on suspicion
of forging documents.

They were ordered detained after the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office
said it believes they committed forgery.. and they pose a high risk of
destroying or forging evidence and colluding with accomplices or witnesses if
released after questioning.

The two farmers are suspected of altering the numbers on forms used to cover
the handover of dead carcasses to off-site "rendering" operations, which use
heat to make the carcasses safe for further processing into pork products.

Prosecutors said last week that altering the form numbers led to differences
in the forms handed to the rendering operator and the one the farmers kept ..

.. and the discrepancy makes it difficult to determine whether all of the
deceased pigs from the farm were handled by the rendering operator or if some
may have been illegally sold on the market or disposed of separately.

Officials say the outbreak originated from the farm on October 25.

The African Swine Fever Forward Command Center said earlier this week that
the outbreak likely resulted from feeding the pigs food waste that had not
been properly sterilized.