No pork from Russia or Ukraine

Import warning due to African swine fever in Russia and Ukraine

08/07/2012

Warning about pork from Ukraine and Russia. Due to the spread of African swine fever (ASP), no pork products from Russia and Ukraine should currently be imported, according to the latest communication from the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Dr. med. Till Backhaus (SPD).

The Minister of Agriculture of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania sees according to the Ministry's announcement „the advance of the disease to the west with great concern.“ Since 2007, ASP „from Africa to Armenia, Georgia and Russia“ spread. Subsequently „The ASP spread uncontrollably within Russia and from there to the west“, so the current message. Probably tourists have taken the pathogens from Russia to the Ukraine, where at the end of last month in the village of Komyshuvatka, about 170 km from the Russian border, the virus was detected in a domestic pigs miniature. Previously, the Ukraine was always considered free from African swine fever. Now the animal epidemic in the luggage of travelers could also get to Germany, so the concern of Backhaus.

Possible transmission of African swine fever via food waste
Eastern Europe travelers urged the Minister of Agriculture of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania therefore urgently not to bring any pork products from Russia or Ukraine. Salami or sausages in luggage are therefore taboo. The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection also warned against the import of pork products from Russia or Ukraine. Although the „Import of live pigs and pigmeat products from the countries concerned into the EU“ banned anyway, but the pathogens could also be from travelers „be brought in via foods such as pork, raw sausages or salami“, This is the message of the Federal Consumer Protection Ministry in Berlin. If contaminated meat products are imported to Germany, they could „for example, arrive as food waste to domestic and wild boars“, explained the ministry. In Russia, for example, contaminated ship-source waste stored near the harbor is the cause of the spread of ASP.

Catastrophic consequences of spread of African swine fever in Germany
Only by consistently refraining from importing potentially contaminated pork products, „we can protect our pig population from the devastating animal disease and the inevitable trade disruption“, stressed Till Backhaus. If the pathogens reach Germany, they threaten, according to the minister „catastrophic consequences“, so far „Unlike the classic swine fever that hit our country in the 1990s, there is no vaccine available to fight this plague“ stands. Although African swine fever is harmless to humans, it does „In pig herds, it can have serious consequences, as the events in the Russian Federation have already shown“, so the message of the Federal Consumer Protection Ministry. Efficiently, the ASP virus can currently only be controlled by killing and harmless removal of pigs.

Measures against African swine fever
To prevent African swine fever from entering the European Union, many measures have already been taken at national and EU level. For example, at the EU's external borders, increased controls and contingency plans to combat animal diseases have been adapted, according to the Federal Consumer Protection Ministry. But even in the EU, individual regions have been struggling with ASP for decades. In Italy, those responsible have been trying in vain to redeem ASP in Sardinia for 30 years, and recently the entire island has been excluded from pig and pork trade. (Fp)

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Meat favors pancreatic cancer

Image: s.media