April 11, 2011

Belarus bans pork imports from Russian region

African swine fever outbreak in Russia's Murmansk Oblast prompted Belarus to stop shipments of pork from that region.

The ban extends to the import of pigs, boar semen, pork and pork products, rawhide and intestines, hog wool, meat of wild boars, hunter's trophies, feedstuff and feed additives for farm animals and used equipment for keeping, slaughtering and butchering pigs.

African swine fever has spread across many regions of Russia. Belarus had earlier prohibited the import of potentially hazardous products from Rostov, Voronezh, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Leningrad and Nizhny Novgorod oblasts.

African swine fever develops fast and causes heavy mortality among pigs (98-100%).