Mexico Announces Three States as Free of CSF

MEXICO - The Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishery and Food (SAGARPA) published in the Diario Oficial (Federal Register) on 30 January 2009, a notice declaring three Mexican States free of Classical Swine Fever (CSF).

With the notification of disease-free status for the three States - Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco - the entire country is now officially considered free of this disease by SAGARPA.

The GOM and the State Governments of these three states have made efforts to develop and implement sanitary measures for the diagnosis, control, eradication and epidemiology surveillance of CSF.

After epidemiology sampling of 100 per cent of all commercial hog farms and a representative sample of the backyard production as prescribed in NOM-037-ZOO-1995, “Domestic Campaign against the Classical Swine Fever“, the surveillance activities confirmed the absence of the CSF etiological agent. Thus, SAGARPA officially declared Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco as free of CSF. With the addition of these three States, SAGARPA has now declared all of Mexico as free of CSF.

FAS comment: The GOM has been working on developing new export markets for Mexican pork products to enhance the profitability of this sector and eventually benefit domestic producers. With this declaration, the GOM hopes to gain greater access to international markets, including the United States, for its pork and pork products. Currently, USDA/APHIS considers the Mexican States of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Yucatan as free or of low risk for CSF.