A pig breeder in Liaoning Province rides a 450-kilogram pig. With China's pig market still restricted in efforts to control the spread of African swine fever, the breeder said he hopes his pig riding will attract buyers. Photo: VCG

China's agriculture regulator has vowed to launch a nationwide campaign to crackdown on the illegal trade and production of fake vaccines against African swine fever (ASF) in the market.

No ASF vaccines have been authorized in China or any other country in the world. Any unauthorized vaccines that are produced and traded are illegal, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement on Monday. 

The ministry encouraged citizens to give tip-offs on cases of fake ASF vaccines, saying they will be rewarded up to 30,000 yuan ($4,609).

Early in May last year, the public security bureau in Chongqing municipality arrested seven people for selling fake ASF vaccines that caused the deaths of more than 2,000 pigs, media reported. 

Some Chinese vendors had spread false information about an experimental ASF vaccine produced by the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and duped farmers into buying them, media reported.

The ministry warned of the security risks and loopholes of fake ASF vaccines, and urged veterinary departments to speed up their research and development of ASF vaccines and strengthen the crackdown on fake ones.The epidemic strain of ASF in China belongs to genotype II and the blind introduction of a genotype I vaccine virus from other countries to vaccinate pigs in China is bound to complicate China's ASF epidemic, the ministry said in September 2019. 

The ministry underlined the harsh punishment given to people and enterprises involved in the production of fake vaccines. Any scientific research institutions that obtain administrative certificates illegally for ASF vaccines will not be granted any more certificates for the following three years, and the research fellows involved could be sacked, while the enterprises involved will have their production and operation licenses revoked.

African swine fever is believed to only infect pigs. No humans or other species are known to have been infected.

Southwest China's Yunnan Province reported a new case of African swine fever last week, according to the agricultural ministry. 

The disease occurred among 36 piglets illegally transported from outside the province in Funing county. Six were already dead, according to the ministry.

China reported its first case of the disease in August 2018 in the northeastern province of Liaoning. Later outbreaks were reported in other provincial regions.