On September 28, the General Administration of Customs released the policy interpretation of the announcement on preventing The spread of African swine fever from Germany into China, which mainly includes the transmission ways of African swine fever, preventive measures and how to strictly prevent the German swine fever.

Infection with African swine fever virus is an acute, hemorrhagic and severe infectious disease caused by African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) infecting domestic pigs and various wild boars.

When African swine fever occurs, the body temperature rises to 41℃ and lasts for about 4 days; loss of appetite; extreme fatigue; fast pulse, cough, breathing fast about one-third, dyspnea, serous or mucopurulent conjunctivitis, In the ears, nose, underarms, abdomen, perineum, tail, and feet, the hairless parts show clear purple spots. The purple spots on the ears are often swollen, and the center is dark and scattered with bleeding. Some strains can cause bloody dysentery and vomiting.

The incidence and mortality of African swine fever can reach up to 100%. The World Organization for Animal Health has listed it as a legally reported animal disease. China has listed it as a type of animal infectious disease in the "List of Entry and Entry Animal Quarantine Diseases of the People's Republic of China”.

Direct contact between healthy pigs and diseased pigs or pollutants is the main transmission route of African swine fever. Soft ticks are the storage host and vector of ASFV. Pigs bitten by venomous ticks and other vector insects may be infected with African swine fever.

Generally, there are four main ways for the introduction of African swine fever across borders: 1. the international trade and smuggling of live pigs and their products, 2. pork and its products carried by international passengers, 3. food leftovers on international transportation vehicles, 4. migration of wild boars.

There are three main ways of transmission of domestic pig epidemics that have been identified in China before:1. the cross-regional transportation of live pigs and their products, accounting for about 19% of the total epidemic; 2. feeding pigs with food leftovers, accounting for about 34% of the total epidemic; 3. people and vehicles spread the virus. This is the most important way for the current epidemic to spread, accounting for about 46% of the total epidemic.

Since there is no vaccine that can effectively prevent African swine fever in the world, but high temperature disinfectant can effectively kill the virus, good biosafety protection of farms is the key to preventing and controlling African swine fever.

Live pigs should be kept closed, and isolation and protection measures should be taken to avoid contact with wild boars and soft ticks; it is strictly forbidden to feed pigs with swill or meal waste; strictly control personnel, vehicles and susceptible animals from entering the farm; entering and leaving the farm and its production Personnel, vehicles, and articles in the district should be strictly implemented with disinfection and other measures; actively cooperate with local animal disease prevention and control agencies to carry out disease monitoring and investigation, especially if the hog cholera vaccine fails to immunize, and deaths from unknown causes should be reported to the local veterinary department in time.

In addition, actively cooperate with customs supervision, and all food waste from airplanes and ships at international airports and ports should be burned. Establish rapid diagnosis methods in advance for areas without the disease and formulate an eradication plan in the event of the disease.

Recommend article:
MARA & GACC | Announcement of No. 104, 2020 (Announcement on Preventing the Introduction of African Swine Fever in Germany into China

---

Business Division of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance of Global Foodmate provides food standards & regulations research, labelling compliance consulting/Chinese label design, industry public opinion monitoring and analysis, registration services (of Infant formula, FSMP, Health food, Novel Food Ingredients, Novel Food Additives, New Varieties of Food-Related Products and Overseas manufacturers of imported food) and other comprehensive food safety solutions for domestic and overseas enterprises and institutions in food industry. 

Please feel free to contact us: +86 10 68869850, E-mail: global_info@foodmate.net