A Vietnamese woman has become the first person to be refused entry to Australia under new visa laws after airport authorities discovered she was carrying nearly 5kg of uncooked pork.
The passenger had flown into Sydney Airport, where it was discovered she was carrying the meat and other undeclared food in her luggage including squid, quail, garlic and eggs.
Australian authorities are on high alert due to the large number of pork products entering Australia infected with African swine fever, a deadly disease that has broken out in Asia's pork industry.
Australian border control has stopped nearly 30 tonnes of pork and other porcine products from entering the country, and the disease has been detected in half of the products seized.
New biosecurity laws have been introduced in an effort to protect the more than NZ$5 billion pig meat industry in Australia.
The spread of African swine fever began in China last year and has now made its way to Timor-Leste.
The rapidly spreading disease has a high mortality rate amongst pigs.
Newshub.
