Pork Industry Focuses on Keeping African Swine Fever Out of the U.S.
For the first time in 40 years, African swine fever (ASF) has leapt back into the Americas with the July 28 announcement that ASF had been found in the Dominican Republic (DR). The DR previously dealt with the disease from 1978 to 1980, with 374 outbreaks reported throughout that period, representing an impact of 192,473 culled pigs.
According to the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), the DR has between 1.5 million and 1.8 million pigs.
The Dominican government assures that its Minister of Agriculture has already activated the National Emergency Committee for Exotic Diseases of Domestic Animals to ensure all institutions in the agricultural sector operate in a coordinated way to guarantee the national production of pigs, SHIC reports.
Some of the immediate actions in place include entry and exit of live and slaughtered pigs in the affected provinces have been prohibited, military checkpoints have been strategically established in both provinces and epidemiological investigations are being carried out.
Meanwhile, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has numerous safeguards in place to prevent ASF from entering the U.S. Pork and pork products from the DR are currently prohibited entry as a result of existing classical swine fever (CSF) restrictions.
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is increasing inspections of flights from the DR to ensure travelers do not bring prohibited products to the U.S. CBP will also be making sure garbage is properly disposed from these airplanes to prevent transmission of the ASF virus.
USDA is urging the Department of Homeland Security to increase surveillance of humans and their baggage from the DR, especially by the beagle patrol.
Dominican authorities have banned the commercialization of pork meat in the border region after receiving reports from Dominican military forces at the border regarding the events developing in the neighboring country.
USDA will instigate an increased presence and surveillance for Puerto Rico. Concerns with illegal boat movements from the DR to other Caribbean countries are also a concern, SHIC reports.
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