Vietnam sets the alarm for possible ASF outbreak
There is a high risk that the ASF virus may enter Vietnam, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said in a statement issued at the beginning of the week.
According to Vietnamese officials, the soaring trade and transport of pigs, as well as abundant supplies of pork of unknown origins and smuggled pork products during the end of 2018 and just before the Lunar New Year holiday earlier this month lie at the root of the problem.
Daily travels between Vietnam and its neighbouring nations, as well as a large number of international visitors to the country also add further concern to the issue. Many Asian passengers have the habit of bringing food, which may contain pork, during their travels, which poses a risk of introducing the disease to Vietnam, as has happened to South Korea, Japan, and Thailand, informs Vietnam Plus website.
Last week, a sample of pork product from Vietnam tested positive for ASF in Taiwan, which led to an immediate ban for Vietnamese pork imports in the Philippines.
Also, at the beginning of this week, Chinese frozen food producer Sanquan Food has recalled products that may be contaminated with African swine fever, following media reports that some of its dumplings tested positive for the virus, according to Reuters.
So far, in Asia, the virus has spread only in China and Mongolia, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Around the globe, in the last two years, the disease affected 20 countries, the number of pigs that were culled reaching to 1.08 million.
Pig farming in Vietnam is consisting of small scale farms with a high density and often fail to meet hygiene standards. The situation, coupled with the unfavourable cold, rainy weather, has created a breeding ground for the disease to spread, according to MADR statement.
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