The U.S. pork industry is asking Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to take additional measures to protect against African Swine Fever from getting into the United States. National Pork Producer Council’s Chief Veterinarian Dr. Liz Wagstrom says they want the prevention of imports of organic soy products from ASF positive countries.
She says they’ve been doing a lot of research on animal feed and found it takes too much time to hold organic products to make sure they’re free of diseases like ASF, so it became necessary to ask for the import restriction.
Wagstrom says by restricting the organic soy from ASF countries along with the additional port inspectors recently funded, those are good tools in attempting to keep the disease out of the U.S.
NPPC along with 30 state pork groups have also asked USDA to further explore the merits of restricting all soy products from ASF-positive countries.
