With a plague look: pork producers will be checked in connection with the spread of ASF

Due to mass cases of African swine fever (ASF), unscheduled inspections of manufacturers began in RUSSIA, the Ministry of Agriculture told Izvestia. Since the beginning of the year, 30 outbreaks of the disease have been detected in the country. The department described the situation as "stably tense." Earlier, the Public Consumer Initiative sent an appeal to the Ministry and ROSSELKHOZNADZOR with a request to strengthen control over veterinary documents, as well as to tighten restrictive measures in the regions where the disease was detected.

A tense situation

As the Ministry of Agriculture told Izvestiya, unscheduled inspections of businesses in connection with ASF have been resumed in Russia.

— The situation with ASF in the country remains stably tense. The wide spread of ASF in Europe, the circulation of the pathogen among wild animals and a significant number of farms with a low level of biological protection require constant monitoring of the situation, the press service of the ministry explained to Izvestia.

They noted that today such work is carried out by the state veterinary service.

- The issue of ensuring the epizootic well-being of the territory of the Russian Federation for ASF is under constant control in the government and the Ministry of Agriculture. This is the subject of discussion at meetings of the government's permanent anti-epizootic commission, the Ministry of Agriculture clarified.

The ministry stressed that, in accordance with subparagraph “b” of paragraph 3 of government decree No. 336, the basis for conducting an unscheduled control (supervisory) measure without the consent of the prosecutor's office may be the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the HEAD of the Cabinet, deputy prime ministers, as well as the requirement of the prosecutor. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko gave instructions to resume such inspections in connection with ASF.

“Thus, unscheduled business inspections have been resumed this year,” the ministry stressed.

They also noted that at present the government has developed an action plan to improve the veterinary safety system of the Russian Federation. it included a set of measures to prevent the emergence and spread of contagious animal diseases.

– Control over the execution of veterinary accompanying documents (VSD) is also provided. Rosselkhoznadzor constantly monitors their registration. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture has prepared indicators of the risk of violation of the requirements for issuing a VSD, the department added.

Izvestia sent inquiries to the government and Rosselkhoznadzor with a request to assess the problem of the spread of ASF.

Biological weapons

In mid-April, Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Consumer Initiative, sent an appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture with a proposal to strengthen control measures in connection with ASF. According to him, the situation is alarming. According to the Rosselkhoznadzor , as of April 10, 30 active outbreaks of ASF have been detected since the beginning of the year: 16 among domestic pigs, 14 among wild boars.

- All this is logically linked with the biolaboratories that today operate, including on the territory of Ukraine. The plague may well be used as an economic weapon against our country, given that Western countries have openly declared their desire to inflict economic harm on us, the public figure believes.

According to him, today pork is one of the most popular products among Russians, so its disappearance from the shelves can play an extremely negative role both in pricing policy and in people's social moods.

“That is why close attention should be paid to outbreaks of this disease, and no measures will be redundant here,” Oleg Pavlov explained.

In a document sent to the Ministry of Agriculture, he also proposes to resume unscheduled inspections of a business that breeds and slaughters pigs. In addition, establish quarantine in territories within a radius of up to 120 km from detected ASF outbreaks, as well as strengthen control over the execution of veterinary documents.

In the letter, the public figure also notes that although ASF does not pose an immediate threat to human HEALTH, its intensive spread between the regions of Russia can lead to mass infection and death of millions of animals, and at the same time to very significant economic losses in the pig industry.

According to the National Union of Pig Breeders, at the end of 2022, the consumption of MEAT from these animals in Russia was a record over the past 30 years. Its share reached 37.5%. Experts explained this by the smallest increase in prices for this product.

— The problem of plague, unfortunately, is long-term. Hoping that it can be quickly eradicated is wrong. So far, not a single country has succeeded in this, - Yury Kovalev, general DIRECTOR of the union, explained to Izvestia.

According to him, the authorities have now developed measures to counter the spread of this disease. Among them: the assignment to enterprises of their own level of biosafety, the planned reduction in the number of wild boars, the strengthening of control over personal subsidiary plots, which today remain the weakest link, the expert added.

According to Yuri Kovalev, now the Ministry of Agriculture has received the right to develop veterinary rules for keeping pigs, which will be mandatory for private farms. This year also comes an amendment on the mandatory registration and marking of animals. But only a combination of all measures will help contain the spread of this disease, the expert noted.