October 27, 2008
Ukraine bans pork imports from Russian region
Ukraine has banned pork imports from Russia's Stavropol region following an outbreak of African Swine Fever there, a government food-safety official told AFP Saturday (October 25).
"It is prohibited to bring animals susceptible to African Swine Fewer, as well as the products and raw materials from them, into Ukrainian territory from the Stavropol region," said Anatoly Osadchy, a spokesman for the State Committee on Veterinary Medicine.
Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency reported Friday that an investigation had been opened after more than 100 pigs died from the virus in that region between October 15 and 22.
African Swine Fever is highly contagious. The virus resists inactivation, and can persist in meat up to 15 weeks, in processed hams up to six months and up to one month in contaminated pens.
It is endemic in a swath of southern Africa and on the Iberian peninsula in Europe.
