U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport seized large quantities of African rat meat from a man on June 26.
Officials said the meat was confiscated and destroyed after the man declared 32 pounds of the rodent meat upon arriving to the United States from the Ivory Coast, CBP spokesman Steve Bansbach confirmed to The Epoch Times in an email.
“The traveler mentioned in his customs declaration that he’s carrying meat. CBP (Customs and Border Protection) officers identified the meat as African rodent meat,” Bansbach said via email.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines prohibit rodent meat from entering the country because it “can cause various kinds of diseases” Bansbach told The Epoch Times in an email.
Rats and mice can spread over 35 diseases worldwide, according to a statement on the CDC website. “These diseases can be spread to humans directly, through handling of rodents, through contact with rodent feces, urine, or saliva, or through rodent bites.”Rodent-borne diseases can also spread to humans indirectly through ticks, mites, or fleas that have fed on an infected rodent.
![A stock photo of a rat (Flickr)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F01%2F29%2Frat-346457589.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Some early media reports said the meat was confiscated and destroyed because it can cause African Swine Flu. Bansbach, however, called that a miscommunication and said swine flu is not caused by African rodent meat.
The African Swine flu is a highly contagious disease that kills nearly all pigs that contract it. The disease can also kill hogs in just two days but isn’t harmful to people.
Some cane rats have been found to carry Salmonellae, a bacteria that can cause disease to the infected, according to the NCBI report.
“Humans may become exposed to infection by consumption of inadequately cooked infected cane rat meat, or by eating vegetables, sugar cane and fruits contaminated with excretions of carrier cane rats,” the report said.
Officials did not determine the species of the rat and further details were not divulged.
Fear of an African swine fever disease led U.S. border agents to seize about 1 million pounds of pork products from China, a spokesman for the agency said March 15, according to a Reuters report.