Media OutReach<\/a> – 29 December 2020 – On 21\u00a0December 2020, the World
\nOrganisation of Animal
\nHealth (OIE) confirmed the ASF-free status
\nin all suidae of Belgium, which had been removed
\nsince September 2018
\ndue to the
\noutbreak of ASF
\nin the wild
\nboar population. Prior to the
\nOIE publication, Belgium’s FASFC (Federal Agency
\nfor the Safety
\nof the Food Chain) provided the OIE with all necessary data which proved that Belgium has been ASF-free
\nfor more than one year: a necessary condition to claiming the status of being ASF-free. Throughout this entire period, Belgium was successful in
\nkeeping its domestic herd of pigs ASF-free.<\/p>\nOfficial declaration by the OIE<\/i><\/p>\n
DECISIVE AND CONSISTENT ACTIONS
\nHAVE LED TO THE
\nERADICATION OF ASF IN THE
\nWILD <\/b>BOAR POPULATION<\/b><\/p>\n
From
\nthe start of the outbreak in September 2018,
\nBelgium’s strategy was
\nto eradicate ASF
\n(African Swine Fever)
\nin the wild boar
\npopulation. A wide
\nvariety of measures
\nand actions were
\ntaken. Fencing, forests
\nclosed to the
\npublic, intensive search and destroy programme, hunting and trapping–all proved to be key success
\nfactors in achieving this goal.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In
\njust one year, no new positive cases were detected. In total 5,422 wild boars
\nwere examined for ASF, of
\nwhich 833 were confirmed positive for ASF. The last
\npositive case confirmed on a fresh
\nwild boar carcass
\ndates from 11 August 2019.<\/p>\n
MOST IMPORTANT:<\/b><\/p>\n
DOMESTIC
\nHERD WAS KEPT SAFE AND ASF-FREE AT ALL TIMES<\/b><\/p>\n
Belgium is one of Europe’s
\nkey pork producers, exporting more than two-thirds of its pork production. To protect
\nthis important sector,
\nit was crucial to prevent
\nthe disease from
\ninfecting the domestic herd.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
On top of the comprehensive bio-security rules that were already
\nin place, extra measures were implemented. This means, amongst
\nother things, that
\nevery sick pig must be tested for ASF, regardless of the symptoms. To date, the number of samplings, all negative, amounts
\nto more than 22,000–and still counting.<\/p>\n
VIA CONTINUOUS MONITORING AND CONTROL, ALERTNESS REMAINS HIGH<\/b><\/p>\n
Despite
\nthe regained ASF-free status, Belgium will keep monitoring for animal diseases
\nin the future, both
\nin the domestic
\nherd as well
\nas in the wild population. The surveillance and control measures remain in force
\nfor the time being.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
EUROPEAN LAW HAD ALREADY REINSTATED BELGIUM’S
\nASF-FREE STATUS<\/b><\/p>\n
The OIE publication follows
\nthe decision by the European
\nCommission on 20 November 2020 to abolish
\nthe regulated zones that were put in place
\nafter\u00a0the outbreak of the virus
\nin wild boar.<\/p>\n
“It is a relief to the Belgian pork suppliers that the OIE has published Belgium’s ASF-free status.”<\/i><\/p>\n
BELGIAN PORK WILL SOON BE AVAILABLE AGAIN,
\nWORLDWIDE<\/b><\/p>\n
Over the last few decades, Belgium
\nhas exported pork to more than 70 countries. As Belgium communicates transparently with
\nits trading partners around the world,
\nimporting countries will
\nsoon be provided
\nwith all information necessary to allow trade to resume.<\/p>\n
“It is a relief to the Belgian pork suppliers that the OIE has published Belgium’s ASF-free status. Importing countries will be provided with all information necessary so that they can lift ASF-related restrictions.<\/p>\n
Excellent news for importers!”<\/p>\n
Contact your Belgian pork supplier<\/b><\/p>\n
Full information about Belgian pork can be found on: europeanpork.eu | artofmeat.eu | belgianmeat.com<\/p>\n
Or contact Belgian Meat Office.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Media OutReach – 29 December 2020 – On 21\u00a0December 2020, the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) confirmed the ASF-free status in all suidae of Belgium, which had been removed since September 2018 due to the outbreak of ASF in the wild boar population. Prior to the OIE publication, Belgium’s FASFC (Federal …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}