Written question asked by Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 24 January 2008. It was answered by Jonathan Shaw (Labour) on Thursday, 31 January 2008 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Swine Fever

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the risk of (a) classical swine fever and (b) African swine fever to the UK pork farming industry.

Answer: DEFRA monitors outbreaks of high impact diseases (including classical swine fever (CSF) and African swine fever (ASF)) worldwide and assesses risks to the UK. These assessments are available on the DEFRA website. In 2007 DEFRA produced nine preliminary outbreak assessments on CSF and ASF.The overall risk of the introduction of these two diseases to the UK has increased over the past few months, but still remains low. This emphasises the importance of strict compliance with EU rules for the trade in live pigs and their products, appropriate enforcement at the border, and compliance with the swill feeding ban in the UK.If, despite these precautions, CSF or ASF viruses enter the country, the risk of pigs becoming infected has been reduced by the introduction of the ban on swill feeding in May 2001. If a pig is infected, the spread of the disease would be limited by the standard disease control methods DEFRA would put in place, including culling all pigs on an infected premises and dangerous contacts, and movement controls around those premises.

Secondary information