Head of the Veterinary Department of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): Infected pork has been seized, has not been sold and will be disposed of

Today, October 28, Petr Petrov, HEAD of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), at a briefing said that raw MEAT infected with the African swine fever virus was seized, was not sold and will be disposed of.

He gave an explanation on the discovery of ASF DNA genetic material in meat products that were sent to Yakutsk.  

Petr Petrov said that the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Territorial Directorate of ROSSELKHOZNADZOR for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) carried out prompt and well-coordinated work to identify and seize controlled infected meat raw materials that came along the route "Saratov Region - the city of Yakutsk." 

The fact of infection of part of the products of LLC "SarProdTrade" - more than two tons of pork meat - was discovered thanks to the FSIS "Mercury" during federal monitoring. 

Upon the arrival of raw meat in Nizhny Bestyakh, Rosselkhoznadzor specialists immediately took samples, which were sent to the Irkutsk interregional veterinary laboratory. 

“On October 26, it became known that a batch of products sent to the city of Yakutsk was infected with the African swine fever DNA virus,” said Petr Petrov. 

As it turned out, an individual entrepreneur from Yakutsk ordered meat products from SarProdTrade LLC from the Saratov region for sale. The raw materials came from the Belgorod region, where an outbreak of African swine fever was detected at the end of September.

The head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) specified that a meeting of the Anti-Epizootic Commission was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Nikiforov. A decision was made to introduce restrictive measures for the infected object. 

At the moment, a batch of pork in the amount of 2 tons 900 kg, which is in the container, has been withdrawn and will be disposed of. 

“This is the first case of importation of infected products to the territory of Yakutia. Citizens of the republic should not worry about the spread of African swine fever and believe the rumors from social networks. African swine fever does not pose a danger to human life and HEALTH,” Petr Petrov stressed. 

African swine fever is a particularly dangerous viral disease of domestic and wild pigs. At a temperature of 60°C, the ASF pathogen dies within 10 minutes. 

At present, ASF has been registered on the territory of 21 subjects of the Russian Federation, in total 235 unfavorable points and 25 objects infected with the virus have been identified.