Warnings over pig disease
Farmers, hunters and trampers are being urged to watch out for signs of African swine fever, a deadly disease sweeping through Asia and Eastern Europe.
So far, it hasn’t been detected in New Zealand and the organisations which protect our border and promote our pork products want to keep it that way.
There’s no effective treatment so prevention is the only defence. Here’s what you need to know:
WHAT IS IT?
A highly-contagious, incurable virus that causes high fever and internal bleeding in pigs. It infects both domestic and wild animals and is usually fatal within 10 days.
WHERE IS IT CONFIRMED?
The disease has been spreading through Eastern Europe since 2014, where it first moved from Lithuania to Poland and Estonia. It’s now been reported in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Belgium.
More than 1.1 million animals have been culled on Chinese farms and the disease has also been reported in Vietnam, Cambodia, Mongolia, Laos and North Korea.
Although there’s been no outbreak in Australia, they’re on high alert across the ditch. Testing of pork products seized from mail and passenger luggage over a two-week period found about 15 per cent of the meat was contaminated with ASF.
THAT’S A BIT CLOSE TO HOME. WHAT SHOULD WE BE LOOKING OUT FOR?
Signs of ASF include high fever, decreased appetite and low energy. Skin can be reddened, blotchy or have blackened lesions.
Infected pigs may also have diarrhoea, vomiting, coughing and breathing problems.
HOW DOES IT SPREAD?
ASF is like the cockroach of pig viruses – it can survive almost anything. One of the biggest risks is feeding untreated meat scraps to pigs. Because it can survive in undercooked pork products, as well as various types of processed pork products, and can infect the pigs that eat them.
From the little-known laws file, it’s actually illegal to feed meat to pigs unless it has been cooked at 100 degrees Celsius for an hour. Fines range from $5000 to $15,000 so just don’t do it.
The disease can survive almost indefinitely in frozen meat and is also carried on clothing, footwear, equipment and vehicles.
ARE WE SAFE?
If by ‘‘we’’ you mean people, then yes – ASF doesn’t affect humans. Hunting dogs are also safe, as are other livestock, wildlife, and pets.
However, it could have a devastating effect on New Zealand’s $750 million commercial pork industry.
WHAT SORT OF DAMAGE ARE WE TALKING?
Because the only response is to cull infected herds, it could completely wipe out the local industry.
‘‘Watching the disease spread through Europe and Asia demonstrates how devastating ASF could be if it reached New Zealand,’’ NZ Pork general manager David Baines said.
‘‘Our focus is on protecting the supply of fresh, born and raised in New Zealand pork.’’
HOW DO WE BEAT IT?
By keeping it out. With almost 60 per cent of pork eaten in New Zealand imported from countries including China, Poland, Estonia, Denmark and Spain, that means being very careful about the products we let in.
According to MPI, unprocessed pork and pork products can be imported from a limited number of countries.
Of those countries, ASF had been reported only in the European Union, where strict regulations for exports were in place to protect against the disease.
Highly processed pork products, such as canned meat products, could be imported from all countries as the processing was sufficient to kill ASF and other diseases affecting pigs.
WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?
Be vigilant and take the appropriate precautions, Baines said.
For trampers and hunters that includes:
Not hunting wild pigs if you are in regular contact with the domestic variety. Not giving homemade products to pigs. Dressing out wild boar where they were killed.