BEIJING (REUTERS) - China culled more than 38,000 hogs as of Sept 1 due to African swine fever outbreaks, the agriculture ministry said on Sunday (Sept 2).

China, where pork is a staple meat, has reported five swine fever cases in five different provinces in a month, prompting authorities to cull hogs at farms in efforts to contain the outbreak.

Epidemic culling and harmless treatment has basically finished in Liaoning, Henan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, where a total of 37,271 hogs were culled, while another 1,264 hogs were put down by Saturday in Anhui province.

The ministry said on Wednesday it cannot rule out the possibility of new outbreaks as concerns grow over the deadly disease's spread in the world's largest hog herd.