China banned imports of pigs, pork products from Moldova due to swine fever

14:00 | 17.10.2018 Category: Economic

Chisinau, 17 October /MOLDPRES/- The Chinese customs administration announced on Wednesday it has banned imports of pigs and pork products from Moldova to prevent the spread of African swine fever.

The ban comes after the discovery of five outbreaks of swine fever in Moldova, the Chinese customs administration informed. Also, China, the world's largest pork exporter, has ordered the return or destruction of products shipped from Moldova.

The decision comes after the Chinese authorities banned the transport of live pigs and pork products from regions where African swine fever has been reported and neighboring provinces, after more cases of swine fever were reported in China.

The Sanitary Veterinary Surveillance Department of the National Agency for Food Safety (ANSA) today announced that there were four outbreaks of African swine fever in domestic pigs on 2-15 October in Moldova, three in Stefan Voda district and one in Cahul district. Also, six cases of African swine fever have been reported in boars in Ştefan Vodă district, Palanca village.

According to the veterinary authorities, four new outbreaks of African swine fever have occurred in the last two weeks in Rezina, Ştefan Vodă and Cahul districts.

Moldova does not export live pigs or pork products to China, and cases of swine fever are reported to the World Organization for Animal Health and each country applies import restrictions. In the EU countries, the principle of regionalization is applied, which involves the implementation of measures on regions, experts said.

So far, the virus has been found in eight eastern EU countries, as well as Ukraine and Russia. Romania, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria are most affected by African swine fever, authorities and farmers being extremely worried about the pace of spreading. In August, Romania confirmed the worst outbreak since the World War II to date, sacrificing about 350,000 pigs due to African swine fever.

According to the Sanitary Veterinary Surveillance Department of ANSA, Romania reported about 50 new outbreaks of swine fever in pigs on 2-15 October. New cases were reported by Ukraine in Sumi and Kherson regions.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor A. Răileanu)

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