Prevention and control of African swine fever urged

The State Council has issued a circular urging efforts to prevent and control African swine fever on multiple fronts.

Related departments must put more emphasis on epidemic prevention on pig farms, especially at breeding farms and large-scale pig farms, and encourage farm owners to monitor on their own to detect and deal with hidden infections in a timely manner, the circular said.

It also urged departments in charge to formulate related laws and regulations to forbid feeding pigs with kitchen waste without sterilization treatment. Such waste must be disposed of in a centralized and regulated way to prevent them from flowing into the breeding sector.

Strict implementation of quarantine on the origin areas of pigs is also urged.

Specialized, standardized, and contained transport means are encouraged for pigs and other livestock to eliminate the risk of spreading epidemic diseases via transport tools, the circular said, adding that specialized transport channels must be established to transfer pigs.

The circular also asked the Ministry of Agriculture and related authorities to guide pig slaughterhouses to conduct self-checks and carry out the monitoring of African swine fever risks on their own.

As for the processing and operation of pork products, the circular requires supervision departments to urge pork products processing enterprises and pork product operators to strictly inspect the animal quarantine certificates of raw meat. It also requires the General Administration of Customs to keep a close eye on the legitimate entry quarantine certificates for imported pork products.

Supervision on pork products processing enterprises, trading market and sales enterprises of edible agricultural products, as well as catering enterprises are also emphasized in the circular.

Related departments should pay close attention to the international African swine fever situation and take precautionary measures to prevent any infected pork products from flowing into China, the circular said.

Local governments and related departments must ensure the supply of and price stability of pigs by improving pig production, strengthening supervision and speeding up the upgrade and transformation of the industry, the circular said.