ASF May Have Been Transmitted to New Area in Wheat

RUSSIA - Procedural violations are being blamed for the introduction of African swine fever (ASF) to two new regions. The infection may have been transmitted in feed wheat from previously affected Rostovskaya Oblast.

23 November 2010

3 minute read

The Territorial Administration of the Rosselkhoznadzor for the Voronezhskaya and Volgogradskaya Oblasts detected a serious violation in the procedure of issue of veterinary accompanying documents at the SI Bogucharskaya Regional Station for Animal Disease Control. Such violations may cause introduction of African swine fever both into the territory of the Voronezhskaya Oblast and into other Russian Federation regions, says Rosselkhoznadzor.

According to an unaccredited source, the Territorial Administration received the information that several businessmen from Rostov had documents prepared for export of products from the territory of the Voronezhskaya Oblast but in fact these documents were used to export grain from the Southern and North-Caucasian Federal Districts affected with ASF.

In order to prevent the introduction of the disease, the procedure for import of feed grains, mixed feed and other feeds of plant origin from these regions into the territory of the Voronezhskaya and other oblasts has been established: import of grain into pig breeding holdings is allowed only into plants that comply with the following requirements: the processing procedure includes a stage of heating up to 70°C and higher; there is a reliable security system that ensures prevention of grain theft from the establishment; the grain should be dried in an elevator heater at 90°C before transportation.

In order to simplify the processes, producers of agricultural products and other persons started to violate the procedural recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

The Territorial Administration detected a violation at the SI Bogucharskaya Regional Station for Animal Disease Control. A businessman from the Rostovskaya Oblast had received from the chief veterinarian of the station two veterinary certificates for export of 2,000 tonnes of feed wheat by a road vehicle from the OOO Stepnoye of the Bogucharsky Rayon. The investigation showed that more than 30 tonnes had been shipped from the mentioned holding.

In the result, the chief veterinarian of the station was dismissed from service, the materials of the investigation were forwarded to the law-enforcement authorities.