News animal disease
African swine fever outbreak in Belgium
The emergency scenario for the pig sector in Northwestern Europe is about to become reality. African swine fever has been detected in 2 dead wild boars in Belgium. This means that the virus has returned since the last outbreak in 1985.
The outbreak was identified on Thursday 13 September by the Federal Agency in the province of Luxembourg (municipality of Étalle), which is located in the extreme south of Belgium and is better known as the Ardennes. The authorities are doing everything they can to prevent further spread. For example, rules will be introduced in nature reserves and prevention measures will also be introduced for pig farms.
Until now, the outbreaks have been confined to eastern Europe, about 1.000 kilometers away. The chance that the animal disease would break out in Western Europe in the short term was experts considered small. So this reassuring thought turns out not to be true.
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Schouten looks at the situation
The short-term consequences of the outbreak are not yet known. Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) has indicated that he will not yet take any additional measures, whereby the existing precautions will continue to apply.
The transporters that transport pigs from countries with African swine fever (near the border crossing with the Netherlands) must be cleaned extra. The Dutch wild boar population is also regularly monitored. Schouten: "I am discussing the situation that has arisen with the provinces to see what measures are needed."
Threat to economy
The European Commission also says it is monitoring the situation closely and sees the fight against animal disease as a priority. This is because the disease is a threat to the economy of the European Union; in particular for the pig sector. Denmark has already taken concrete measures and prohibits animal transport to and from Wallonia (Belgium) and Luxembourg. The French Minister of Agriculture has also indicated that he is thinking about preventive measures.
Several Asian countries have already indicated to stop importing pork from infected countries. For example, Japan has an import ban on polish pork† Similar measures are now also hanging over the Belgian pig sector. There is a good chance that Belgium itself will also come up with strict measures, as happened in the past.
Geographically very unfavorable
Geographically, the outbreak in Stall very unfavorable. The region borders on France and Luxembourg, while Germany is not far away either. The wild boars in the area migrate across national borders, which makes it not unlikely that the animal disease will spread to those countries.
The Netherlands is also relatively close, given the distance to Maastricht (by road) is about 150 kilometers. It is a stroke of luck that the province of Luxembourg is a pig-poor area, according to an expert.
Read here all about African Swine Fever.
Wouter Job
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