Late last week the Dominican Republic confirmed cases of African Swine Fever. The confirmation came about following a cooperative surveillance program between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. National Pork Producers Council’s Science and Technology Legal Counsel Andrew Bailey says the USDA helped the Dominican Republic set up that surveillance program two years ago which was key in finding this detection.
He says while it’s concerning ASF has shown up so close to North America, it heightens the need for U.S. pork producers to keep practicing effective bio security on their operations as the number one priority is to keep ASF out of the United States.
Since ASF showed up in China three years ago, prevention steps in the U.S. have improved over that time leaving the U.S. pork industry in better shape than it was before.
Bailey says it’s also positive that the Customs and Border Inspection Agents have stepped up their ASF protections since the detection in the Dominican Republic and have been making more use of the Beagle Brigade in surveillance efforts.
