The United States has notified that India has been added to the list of countries that have been affected by African swine fever, imposing restrictions on the import of pork and pork products from the country.
“We took this action on May 13, 2020 when the disease was confirmed and are now publishing notice in the regulations. Pork and pork products from India, including casings, are subject to APHIS import restrictions designed to mitigate the risk of ASF introduction into the United States,” the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.
In a federal notification issued on Thursday, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said India has been added to the list of regions “we consider to be affected” with African Swine Fever (ASF.)
ASF is a highly contagious animal disease of wild and domestic swine. It can spread rapidly in swine populations with extremely high rates of morbidity and mortality.
Reuters reported last month that at least two new strains of African swine fever had been found on Chinese pig farms, which appeared to be man-made. The strains are causing a chronic form of African swine fever that is impacting production on sow farms, industry insiders have said, with the disease also more difficult to detect. It is not clear how common the new variants identified by the Harbin team are on pig farms.
