The situation with African swine fever (ASF) in Russia remains unfavorable, although controlled, the Rosselkhoznadzor said. In 2022, 141 outbreaks of the disease were registered, 68 in the domestic pig population, which is two times lower than in 2021, according to the agency’s website.
The main problem in 2021 was the shadow sale of large volumes of gray pork and food waste on the Internet.
“According to the results of outbreak investigations, most of them were associated with the use of food waste for animal feed purchased from various social institutions (schools, canteens, hospitals and cafes) or through Internet sites,” the Rosselkhoznadzor said. On March 1, a ban on feeding waste to pigs comes into force.
The Rosselkhoznadzor assesses the situation with ASF in the world as tense and does not exclude its deterioration due to the spread of the virus to prosperous countries. In 2022, in the Baltic countries, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary, 7.7 thousand ASF outbreaks were detected, of which 533 were among domestic livestock and 7.2 thousand were among wild boars, the agency reports, citing ADIS data.
Additional risks for the situation with ASF in the world are created by the widespread spread of the virus in the wild boar population, their gradual adaptation to the virus, the use of ineffective vaccines, and the unscrupulous activities of entrepreneurs.
Tourism, labor migration and involuntary resettlement of people, including refugees from ASF-affected areas, including Ukraine, have a strong impact on the spread of the virus. “Labor migrants and refugees bring food with them, most often home-cooked,” the service says.
