Could the pig industry survive an African swine fever outbreak? – Farmers Weekly

As the largest animal disease outbreak ever recorded, African swine fever (ASF) poses a real threat to our domestic pig industry. How ready is the UK for a potential incursion? Debbie James reports

The pig industry has for months been sounding alarm bells that cuts to the budget for on-the-spot inspections at the Port of Dover leave the UK highly vulnerable to African swine fever (ASF).

But those warnings seem to have fallen on deaf ears in government as, before parliament was dissolved at the start of the general election campaign, there had been no resolution.

See also: How to plan and prepare for African swine fever

The industry’s concerns centre on government plans to reduce by nearly 70% Dover District Council’s funding for ASF spot checks for illegal imports, as well as moving biosecurity checks on legitimate cargoes from the border to a facility 22 miles inland at Sevington.

This has happened despite the fact that ASF has directly and indirectly claimed a quarter of the global pig population, and the disease is inching its way closer to the UK with cases in Sweden, Italy and Germany.

Katie Jarvis, senior policy adviser at the National Pig Association, describes the situation as “hugely concerning”.

“We know that the consignments of illegal meat being seized are just the tip of the iceberg and therefore the work being done by Dover Port Health Authority and Border Force at Dover needs additional funding, not less,” she says.

There is currently no licensed ASF vaccine available in the UK and, since over 40% of the UK breeding herd is outdoor pigs, if the disease does arrive, the challenge to stop it would be immense. 

Impacts

Pig Veterinary Society (PVS) president Michael Putt says the greatest impact would be on the welfare of the pigs on affected premises.

But other units could be compromised too, by extensive restrictions on animal movements, and on the movement of feed lorries. 

Furthermore, if a case of ASF is confirmed in the UK, international trade would immediately cease.

“These consequences would have a significant impact on the farming community as well as others involved in the industry, such as vets, hauliers, abattoir workers and processors,” says Mr Putt.

Border controls are the single factor that can prevent an outbreak, but these have been described by Scottish Pig Producers chief executive Andy McGowan as “woeful”.

He says it has taken eight years since Brexit to implement proper controls and suggests veterinary certificates required for commercial imports are still not being checked.

Defra disputes this, saying there are strict import controls in place.

It sees preventing an outbreak of ASF as a key biosecurity priority and says it is working closely with Port Health Authorities and the Border Force to enforce these controls.

However, unlike the EU, the UK still permits individuals to bring in up to 2kg of pork products for personal consumption, even though random testing has shown viable ASF within some of the products checked.

Wild boar

The biggest risk in the UK is from wild boar or feral pigs encountering contaminated food.

Indeed, research has shown that the potential for such an animal to spread the disease to an outdoor farm is around 50%, compared with just a 0.2% chance of it moving from one infected pig farm to another.

A feral pig accessing household waste is thought to have resulted in the recent ASF incursion in Sweden. And many in the industry, including Mr Putt, believe the UK is vulnerable too.

“While the UK is an island nation, we know our borders are not tight; there is a substantial movement of pork, both legal and illegal, from and through countries where ASF is present,” he says.

“This, together with capacity issues and loss of memory of notifiable disease control, increases the risk of an ASF incursion in the UK and is of monumental concern to the PVS.”

Restructuring

Since the last major outbreaks of notifiable diseases – foot-and-mouth disease and classical swine fever over 20 years ago – the pig industry and the veterinary profession have experienced significant changes in structure and capacity.

There are now fewer vets doing pig work as practices have merged or been bought out by corporate companies.

The number of abattoirs has more than halved too, with fewer that slaughter pigs, which has serious consequences during any disease outbreaks, says Mr Putt.

“If an abattoir falls within a restricted zone, it will be more difficult for farmers to get pigs from non-restricted areas slaughtered,” he explains.

Diminishing numbers of farrow-to-finish farms and a greater shift to multi-site production also challenge disease control, as farms have become more reliant on the movement of pigs as they grow.

Loss of memory of notifiable disease control extends to farmers too, says Mr Putt.

Many farms got out of the industry during previous notifiable disease outbreaks and chose not to invest in restocking.

That means there are fewer farmers with experience of what happened during those outbreaks.