July 20, 2010

Azerbaijan safe from ASF amid pork bans

There is no danger of spread of African swine fever (ASF) virus in Azerbaijan, as the country banned imports of pork and pork fat from the Rostov and other regions of Russia.

The Russian veterinary laboratory's experts confirmed the diagnosis of ASF in the Rostov region of the country. According to reports, the virus is registered in 12 villages of five districts-Kamenskoe, Konstantinovski, October, Tarasovski and Dubovsky.

Spokesman to the Azerbaijani State Veterinary Service under the Agriculture Ministry Yolchu Khanveli said the ban on pork imports from areas where dangerous diseases identified is valid for three years and the term may be extended in case of re-identification.

He said Azerbaijan imports pork and pork fat just from Europe, in particular, from the Netherlands and Denmark. Pork and pork fat are used mainly for production of sausage and meat products.

The service appealed to the International Epizootics Office for inclusion of Azerbaijan in the list of countries with stable epizootic situation in 2009, he said.

"The veterinary service submitted blood samples of pigs from certain regions of the country to the laboratory of the Bureau and the issue of inclusion of Azerbaijan in this list should be resolved in the near future," he said.

There are a little over 8,000 pigs in Azerbaijan due to low demand for pork.