PERU: ILLEGAL PIG FARMS A 'HEALTH HAZARD', WARNS GOVERNMENT

Spanish/Nat Peruvian authorities are cracking down on illegal pig farms, which they say are becoming dangerous to human health. The farms - most of which are located around rubbish dumps - provide a large percentage of the meat sold in markets. Illegal pig farms like this one in Puerto del Callao are commonplace in Peru. Officials say hundreds of pigs are raised here in unhealthy conditions and then slaughtered. They are then taken to the market where each day their meat is sold to thousands of consumers. Most pig farms are located in small shanty-towns surrounded by large rubbish dumps. This one in Puerto del Callao, 20 kilometres west of Lima, is hidden in the mountains. But health officials manage to find it anyway. They say the farms are becoming hazardous to human health. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "These illegal farms, no matter how good they are, they always escape veterinary controls. In here they kill the pigs --we've seen it ourselves when we have arrived unannounced, on the rubbish. They place a kind of matt on the rubbish and slaughter the pigs there, without sanitary controls. Those animals didn't have any vaccination and were fed on rubbish." SUPERCAPTION: Alberto Casas, Callao Veterinarian Authorities are now trying to crack down on illegal pig farms. This is the seventh operation by the municipal police this year in the Puerto del Callao area. They have already confiscated 400 pigs in this operation alone and two thousand since the beginning of the year. The pigs are slaughtered and burned after they're examined. Health officials say more than 15 percent of the confiscated animals are not fit for human consumption. But for many of the country's poor, the illegal pig farms are the only means of supporting their families. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "I don't have anything, I don't have any money, look how I live, only with my pigs. Q: What do you feed them? A: I only give them "afrecho" (minced corn) SUPER CAPTION: Pig Farm Owner The municipal police have been paying visits to scores of shanty-towns where they are warning residents about the risk of eating contaminated meat and the implications of raising the animals illegally. They say their efforts are paying off as the number of illegal pig farms has decreased sharply. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "Here in El Callao, in January, there were 10-thousand pigs registered in 450 illegal farms. Now the figures have gone down by 60 percent. There are four thousand pigs registered in two hundred illegal pig farms." SUPERCAPTION: David Gonzalez, Head of Social Services, Callao Municipality Authorities have banned rubbish trucks from some areas to force residents to move out or raise their pigs legally. But it's unlikely they will eradicate the practice completely. Most people in the pig trade have migrated from other areas and have nothing but their animals. For them pig farming is the only means of survival and rubbish the only thing they can afford to feed their pigs with. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/37f8448a46fcd097e48ecbc155b53726 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork