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China is taking hog biosecurity to new levels — 13 stories in fact.
That’s the height of a building in southern China where more than 10,000 pigs are kept in a condominium-style complex, complete with restricted access, security cameras, in-house veterinary services and carefully prepared meals.
The seemingly luxurious conditions represent a state-of-the-art approach to biosecurity in which pigs — the main source of meat in China — are shielded from viruses, including the devastating African swine fever that wiped out half the nation’s hogs in the two years before the coronavirus pandemic emerged.
The rise of large hog farms also reflects shifting diets in China. Whereas Beijing focused on fighting hunger and eliminating poverty in past decades, rapid economic development and expanding incomes mean China’s 1.4 billion people are eating more meat, eggs and other animal proteins. That’s driving more-intensive animal production.
(www.bloomberg.com, 02.08.2021. Adapted.)
In the fragment from the fourth paragraph “Whereas Beijing focused on fighting hunger and eliminating poverty in past decades”, the term “whereas” can be replaced, with no change in meaning, by
