Ten pig farms in western Romania belonging to US company Smithfield have not been authorised to operate, a veterinary official said Monday, following an outbreak of swine fever.

However, the Cenei farm, where the outbreak occurred and has killed more than 7,000 pigs in recent weeks, was not one of them, he said.

"Out of 25 Smithfield farms in Timis county, five do not have sanitary-veterinary authorisation and have been illegally populated with pigs," said Ioan Jeleriu.

Five other unauthorised farms were counted in the neighbouring county of Arad.

Source: Terranet Plus