Rosselkhoznadzor bans import of finished meat products from 15 Italian enterprises due to African swine plague from Feb 1

MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has banned the import of finished meat products from 15 Italian enterprises due to the risk of the import of African swine plague starting from February 1.

It is a forced measure, and it was taken due to the absence of dialogue with the Italian veterinary service, the service said.

"According to the European Animal Disease Information Service (ADIS), 6,795 cases of African swine plague have been registered among wild animals and pes on the territory of the European Union in 2022, including more than 280 cases recorded on the territory of Italy. In 2021, only 17 cases were recorded," Rosselkhoznadzor said in a report.

That creates the risk of the import of African swine plague into Russia with finished meat products containing pork that did not go through sufficient temperature processing, which guarantees the destruction of the virus. Due to serious concerns, Rosselkhoznadzor in December 2022 suggested to the Italian colleagues conducting an inspection of enterprises that have the right to supply finished meat products to the Russian market. "However, no response was received from the Italian colleagues. The Italian veterinary service also ignored it," the report said.

In that regard, a decision was made to restrict supplies. "The effectiveness of the state control system for this type of enterprises is assessed as uncertain," the service said.

In general, the supply of meat and meat products from Italy is banned by the Russian food embargo (which was imposed in August 2014). However, in this case the ban applies to products that were unaffected by the food embargo, in particular, dried meat products.