Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of incidences of swine fever in Europe; what recent assessment he has made of the level of risk of swine fever outbreaks in the UK; what contingency plans his Department has put in place in the event of an outbreak of swine fever in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) monitor outbreaks of diseases in the UK and across the world and regularly publish our risk assessments on GOV.UK.

In August 2017, Defra’s risk assessment level was raised to low from very low in response to the spread of infection in Eastern Europe, and this has been widely communicated to the industry and pig keepers.

EU safeguard measures restrict the movement of pigs and pig products out of African swine fever (ASF) affected areas, and we receive regular updates on the application of disease control measures in each Member State. We are in regular dialogue with European colleagues to monitor the situation within the frameworks provided by the EU reference labs for ASF. The restriction zones cover a wide area.

Within the UK, further precautions to reduce the risk of accidental introduction or spread of disease include a ban on the feeding of swill and catering waste to animals and a standstill on movement after the introduction of new stock to a farm.

The movement of vehicles and people, particularly farm workers, and personal imports of pork products from ASF affected areas present a potential risk. Defra, APHA and the pig industry are working together on a communications campaign for pig keepers to highlight the increased risk of ASF. This has focused on the importance of biosecurity and on raising awareness of the disease risks associated with the illegal feeding of kitchen waste or pork products to pigs.

Tests for ASF are established, contingency plans are in place, and outbreak scenarios have been tested and will be further tested. If an outbreak of ASF occurred in the UK, Government policy would be to implement movement controls to prevent further spread of the disease, and to carry out a humane cull of pigs on affected premises in order to control and eradicate the disease and regain disease freedom.