ASF: Sardinia recognized as virus-free after over 40 years

Last week the meeting of the PAFF Committee (Plants, Animals, Food and Feed) of the European Commission was held in Brussels, which with a unanimous vote of all Member States decided to repeal the last restrictive measures still in force in Sardinia due to African Swine Fever - which limited the possibilities of marketing Sardinian pork products outside the island - recognizing the eradication of the disease after more than 40 years.

Posted on Sep 21 ,00:10

Arrived in Sardinia in 1978, the African Swine Fever virus circulated on the island for over forty years, until 2019, when the last case was found. For a long time, efforts to solve the problem were in vain, but in 2014, the establishment of the "Project Unit" represented a turning point that led to the disappearance, in 4 years, of the "Sardinian" virus (genotype I).

"Today’s decision by PAFF is news we have been waiting for years", said Davide Calderone , Director of ASSICA – Association of Meat and Cured Meat Manufacturers.
"For this extraordinary result, I would like to thank the many players who have carried out a very difficult job with great determination and constant commitment, resulting in a strategy that has included both the slaughter of pigs kept illegally in the wild, the strengthening of health control activities on domestic pigs and wild boars, and the training of operators", continued Calderone.

"Among all, I would like to thank Dr. Giovanni Filippini, now Extraordinary Commissioner for ASF and former Head of the Project Unit, and Dr. Alberto Laddomada, former Head of the Animal Health Unit at SANTE and former DG of the Zooprophylactic Institute of Sassari, who was for a long time the Scientific Director of the extraordinary program for the eradication of ASF. With them, I would like to thank the experts and technicians of the Ministry of Health and the Sardinia Region who, working in synergy, have made it possible to eradicate a virus that has long tormented the island, with a devastating economic and social impact. But this result is important for the entire Country System, as it demonstrates that the application of the correct strategies makes it possible to achieve difficult and sometimes apparently unattainable objectives. Now it is important to focus attention and all possible efforts in the other areas of Italy affected by the virus to achieve complete eradication from the country", concluded Calderone.