Vietnam halts import of pork from Hungary, Poland

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development has decided to halt the import of pork and products
from Hungary and Poland to prevent the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus from entry
into Vietnam.

The decision came after the World Organisation for Animal
Health (OIE) reported that Hungary has detected 17 cases of the ASF virus in
dead wild boars in Heves and Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg this year.

Meanwhile, the virus has been found in 315 wild boars and
162 domestic pigs across five Polish provinces – Warminsko-Mazurskie,
Podkarpackie, Podlaskie Mazowieckie, and Lubelskie.

To prevent the ASF virus from entering Vietnam and
protect public health, Vietnam will suspend the and pork
products originating from Hungarian and Polish provinces affected by the
epidemic from September 20, 2018 until the two European countries declare the
end of the ASF outbreak in accordance with OIE regulations.

However, any consignment of pork and from
these affected areas will be permitted to enter Vietnam if it departed for the
country before September 20.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has
also requested animal health agencies to carefully examine these consignments.

ASF is a tuple of infectious hemorrhagic fever which has
a 90-100 percent mortality rate for pigs and there is no vaccine or cure.

Although the disease is not dangerous to humans, it can cause great economic
loss for farmers and harm pork trading.

From the end of 2017 to September 10, 17 countries and regions in Europe and
Asia such as China and Estonia have had ASF outbreaks, with over 560,000 pigs
culled, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

From the start of August to September 10, China reported 14 outbreaks, with
38,000 pigs culled. The disease is moving southward towards provinces near
Vietnam.

ASF is spread from pig to pig through various ways, including animal feed
contaminated with the pathogen, carriers such as ticks, or direct contact
between infected pigs and healthy ones.

In Vietnam, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed a
document on September 11 urging for proper measures to prevent the disease from
entering Vietnam. Accordingly, all forms of transporting, trading, slaughtering
and consuming imported pork products without clear origin are prohibited.

Tighter control was requested at border gates, trails and
border areas while cities and provinces were asked to promptly detect and
strictly punish any case of illegally transporting animals and their products
from foreign countries. –VNA