African swine fever: UK and Australia simulate exercise

Defra and the New South Wales government in Australia are simulating a three-day African swine fever (ASF) exercise.

It is part of joint efforts to share expertise in response to a possible outbreak of the disease – which causes devastating losses in pigs and wild boars – in either country.

The simulated exercise started on Wednesday (29 January) and will conclude on Friday (31 January), with experts in risk assessment, epidemiology, science and disease control policy from Australia and the UK collaborating to form plans for ASF control.

See also: Defra launches border campaign as ASF threat to UK pigs grows

The focus will be to assess how the movement restrictions would be applied in practice to best manage an ASF outbreak.

News of the simulations comes as the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) published its latest data on the presence of the disease in the European Union.

ASF outbreaks in domestic pigs have now been confirmed in nine EU countries – Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and Hungary.

Efsa said the area of the disease in the EU is “progressively expanding”, although its report found the Czech Republic is now officially ASF-free.

The disease has caused devastation in commercial pig herds in a number of Asian countries, especially China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

China devastation

In China, since the first outbreak was recorded in August 2018, 165 outbreaks have been detected and about 1,193,000 pigs have been culled, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.

There has never been an outbreak of ASF in the UK and there are robust measures in place to protect against it, including joint operations with the Border Force and a policy to seize and destroy all illegal imports of meat and meat products.

However, ASF is a major risk to the pig industries of both the UK and Australia due to trade links with and proximity to affected regions in Asia and Europe. Last June, ASF was found in meat seized by port authorities in Northern Ireland before entering the country, the first time the virus has been detected in the UK.

In the event of an outbreak, disease control measures will mean the governments will put in place movement controls for all pig-related businesses, potentially including feed delivery, slaughterhouses, pig breeding units or movement of animals to sales.