FOOD SAFETY : REVISED CONTROL MEASURES ON AFRICAN SWINE FEVER ADOPTED.

The EU fine-tunes its control measures to the situation on the ground

Due to the positive results of the checks following the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in Lithuania and Poland, which did not detect any new cases in these two countries or in any other member state, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health adopted, on 18 March, revised control measures that make a distinction between Sardinia, where the disease has been detected in pigs, and Lithuania and Poland, where it has only been detected in wild boars. The committee also adopted a decision providing financial support amounting to 3.5 million for 2014 to combat the disease in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The new control rules identify three levels of risks for ASF: 1. higher risk because of endemic disease in pigs and wild boar in Sardinia, Italy; 2. a re-demarcation of the infected area in Lithuania and Poland along the borders with Belarus where the disease is present only in wild boar; and 3. a buffer zone...