Meat+Poultry - December 2019 - 21

government implemented control measures
that included movement control inside the
country; surveillance outside containment and/
or protection zones; screening; quarantine;
official destruction of animal products; official
disposal of carcasses, byproducts and waste;
stamping out; control of wildlife reservoirs;
zoning and disinfection.
Since China's Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Affairs (MARA) confirmed that first outbreak in August of 2018, 163 outbreaks of ASF
were detected in 32 provinces, autonomous
regions, municipalities and special administrative regions, according to a situation update
from the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations.
Analysts in the trade estimate that China's
pig herd has dropped to just under 200 million
pigs from more than 430 million animals in
August of 2018, when the first case of ASF
in the country was reported. FAO expected
herd losses to level off in 2020. Analysts with
Rabobank predicted a quarter of the global
pig population would succumb to ASF as the
disease continued to spread outside of China
to Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao People's
Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Philippines,
Timor-Leste, South Korea and North Korea.
"The outbreak is particularly affecting
vulnerable small-scale farmers who may lack
the expertise or funds to protect their animals
from the disease," the FAO reported.
By August of 2019, Vietnam had culled
approximately 3 million pigs in an effort to
slow the spread of the disease. However, this
also raised concerns that ASF could contribute
to an increase in food insecurity in alreadychallenged communities, FAO noted.

ASF DEFENSE
In response to the outbreak, animal health
officials and stakeholders in the pork industry
rallied to mount defenses against ASF while
animal health and welfare officials worked to
stamp out the disease abroad.
The National Pork Producers Council
(NPPC) canceled the World Pork Expo 2019
"out of an abundance of caution" citing the
spread of ASF in China and other parts of Asia.
The World Pork Expo, held annually in Des
Moines, Iowa, draws more than 20,000 global
visitors over a three-day period.
"While an evaluation by veterinarians and

other third-party experts concluded negligible
risk associated with holding the event, we
have decided to exercise extreme caution,"
said David Herring, NPPC president and a pork
producer from Lillington, North Carolina. "The
health of the US swine herd is paramount;
the livelihoods of our producers depend on it.
Prevention is our only defense against ASF and
NPPC will continue to do all it can to prevent
its spread to the United States."
Chief veterinary officers representing
the United States, Canada and Mexico collaborated on a framework for a new North
American-specific strategy to prevent an
ASF outbreak.
Jaspinder Komal, Chief Veterinary Officer
for Canada, said, "The strategy will help guide
ASF-related coordination and cooperation
between Canada, Mexico and the United States
in our communications, prevention, preparedness and response activities."
Areas of collaboration would include
comprehensive disease surveillance; surge
capacity so that Canada, Mexico and the US
would work together to harmonize diagnostic
tests for exotic animal diseases, for example;
contingency plans; and activities such as
control programs, surveillance, hunter education and farm biosecurity aimed at mitigating
risks associated with wild pigs.
Additionally, the US and Canada agreed to
modify export certificates to ensure safe trade
in the event an ASF outbreak occur in either
country. Under the terms of the agreement,
geographic boundaries will be defined to
contain the outbreak, while areas outside
of the control zones will be designated as
disease-free zones.
Canada made a similar arrangement with
the European Union. The ASF zoning agreement reached by the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency (CFIA) and the Dept. of Health and
Safety of the European Commission (DG
SANTE) serves an additional layer of international collaboration in ASF mitigation while
maintaining safe trade. In the event of an ASF
outbreak, geographic boundaries established
in the zoning agreement are defined to
contain the outbreak. The boundaries are
control zones established in alignment with
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
principles. The areas outside of these control
zones are disease-free zones.

"The key point
is that even
when the
market does
rebalance, it's
going to be a
different meat
environment
in China."
- CHENJUN PAN

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