Swine fever in wild boars, red zone in the Parma ham district: «Stop exports to Canada»

The discovery of one wild boar carcasspositive for African swine fever, in the Varano de’ Melegari area has also extended the red zone to the parent territory of the Parma’s hamone of the excellences of Made in Italy. The insertion of Collecchio, Sala Baganza and Felino in the area of restriction II automatically causes exports to Canada to be blocked. The municipalities of Langhirano, Lesignano and Traversetolo were inserted into zone I, with strengthened surveillance measures: from farms and companies present in these countries export is still possible.

The blocking of exports to Canada

The first effect, as explained by the Parma Ham Consortium in a note they are «exports to Canada», a country to which «producing companies located in restriction zones II (i.e. those in which the Psa is present in wild boar) will no longer be able to ship their product.”

The emergency and the stop in Asia

In recent months the “borders” of several countries had closed for PDO ham, including those of China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico. The danger is that the virus will expand given that it remains active until 400 days also on cured meat. It should be remembered that this virus it is not transmissible to humans.

The Parma Ham district: «Wildlife only»

The affected area is fundamental for the Parma Ham supply chain given that a Langhirano, beyond a few farms, there are the main maturing factories. And now we fear for the hundreds of thousands thighs stored in the sites. «It is important to point out that at the moment the contagion is only of concern in our areas wildlife, namely wild boars. We therefore wish to reassure the consumer and the distribution sector that the disease does not represent any danger for humans and that neither in Italy nor in the European Union there are limitations to the marketing of our product.” This was stated to Adnkronos by Alessandro Utini, president of the Parma Ham Consortium, about African swine fever. «The only clarifications, in light of the recent discovery in the Parma area of a wild boar carcass tested positive for PSA, concern non-EU exports, an important lever for the Parma Ham production sector” claims Utini. «First of all, let’s point out that high health guarantees provided by the long maturation of our product allow us to keep important outlets open for our exports like the United States and Australia. The only significant change concerns Canada, a country that represents 2.5% of our exports, to which the Parma Ham producing companies located in restriction zone II (i.e. those in which Psa is present in wild boar) cannot send their product”. concludes Utini.

Minister Lollobrigida: «We are working to slow down the export stop»

«We are working – declared the Minister of Agricultural Policies Francesco Lollobrigida – to avoid export blocking and convince the European Union to allow regulations which provide a guarantee of exported products with respect to animal safety”.

Assosuini: «Swine fever should have been tackled differently»

The ban on exports would also have an impact on other countries on 30% of sales of PDO hams in countries such as USA, France and Germany. A worrying situation Assosuini, the breeders’ trade association, critical of the management of the pandemic: «The Ligurian area had to be limited where the first wild boar carcass was found and eliminate potentially infected ungulates. This was not done and there was a lack of targeted and determined action.” A procedure, that of the selective killing of wild boars, which has been activated in Sardinia and which led to the resolution of the pandemic.

What is swine fever and what does it look like: It is not transmitted to humans

The swine fever virus, for which there are no vaccines, it is not transmissible to humans. It spreads among wild boars and pigs, although – to date – no infected animals have been detected in the pig agricultural supply chain. The manifestations of swine fever are fever, loss of appetite, internal bleeding: the death of the animal usually occurs within ten days of infection. The Emilia Romagna Region has opened a website with all the information necessary to report the discovery of carcasses infected and with the precautions to be taken to limit the spread of the disease