Pork industry alarmed about spread of deadly African swine fever

Pig farmers fear the deadly African swine fever disease might enter New Zealand through pork imported from Europe and China, putting at risk a $750 million industry.

The disease is sweeping across the globe after first being reported in Lithuania in 2014, swiftly followed by outbreaks in Poland, Latvia and Estonia that year. It is now in 10 European countries.

Last month it reached China, home of more than half the world’s pigs. New Zealand imports pork from 25 countries, including Poland, Estonia and China.

North Otago farmer Ian Carter said he found it “bizarre” that while the disease was spreading fast, New Zealand did not place stricter controls over imports.

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“We are in this wonderful position where we’ve got this huge amount of sea surrounding us which protects us from disease.”

New Zealand Pork chairman Eric Roy said the industry was asking for the Government to step up surveillance of the spread of the disease and consider more stringent controls of pork imported from affected countries.

In echoes of the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis, African swine fever (ASF) presents no risk to humans, but for pigs it is often fatal. Once the disease is detected, entire herds need to be culled to prevent further spread of the infection.

The Ministry for Primary Industries said any pork imported from countries in Europe in which ASF had been reported, had to be treated to inactivate the disease.

Exporters had to meet New Zealand’s import health standard for human consumption before it could land in the country.

So far this year, almost 53,000 kilograms of pork products were imported from China, including a small amount of dried pork product.

New Zealand Pork said this was of particular concern as the ASF virus might not have been inactivated through the treatment process.

An MPI spokeswoman said the heat processes required before import from China were “extremely” high processing steps – higher than the international heat treatment standard to mitigate ASF.

“This processing kills all the agents that cause diseases of concern for New Zealand (foot and mouth disease, avian diseases, and swine viruses included) in any highly processed meat.  These processed meats are mainly canned foods, and are the only meats imported from China,” the spokeswoman said.

ASF can also be passed on through infected meat – it can survive for years in frozen carcasses – and spread from clothing, boots and soil.

Roy said the disease could have a potentially devastating effect on the local commercial industry, which generates over $750m a year for the local economy.

“The major risk to our industry is that infected meat gets into the hobby farmer pig population through the feeding of uncooked food scraps, a practice that is banned but can still occur when hobby farmers are unaware of the risks.

“Our wild population could also come into contact with food waste, which is a major problem in Europe,” Roy said.

At least one outbreak in Europe was traced to sausage meat left behind after a roadside picnic. Most notifications of ASF to the World Organisation for Animal Health have declared the source of the outbreak to be “unknown or inconclusive”.

“This is particularly important given that New Zealand is trading pork with the EU sector under virtually identical rules that apply to inter-EU trade – standards which have done nothing to stop the continuing spread of the disease through Europe,” Roy said.

“New Zealand needs to make sure it’s learnt the hard lessons from M. bovis.”

Carter said he did not expect European countries to put curbs on imports from disease-affected countries because there was so much movement.

“Weaners go from Holland to Germany for finishing, and pigs grown in one country are slaughtered in another. Crossing the border is like going from one town to another.”

In 2014 the pork industry warned about the risk of another disease called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus coming into the country through fresh pork imports.

The disease is not found in New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Finland or Switzerland but is in the United States, Canada and Denmark, costing millions to control.

 – Stuff