Animal virology

The government on Thursday introduced an amendment that will allow the Agriculture Ministry to hire an additional 50 veterinaries in order to speed up inspections at pig farms across the country for African swine fever.

African swine fever is also likely to occur in Northern Macedonia, local veterinarians warn. Authorities in the country are taking all measures to prevent infection.

Farm inspections will begin in the coming weeks, aiming to keep farmers aware of the signs of the disease.

A strategy for control and eradication of African Swine Fever was discussed in the city of Stara Zagora on August 7 by Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister Desislava Taneva and representatives of the scientific community and veterinary experts. The strategy envisages phasing out the disease and introducing biosecurity measures.

Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister Desislava Taneva will visit Brussels on August 10 to meet with EU Commissioner for Health & Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis, reports BNT. 

Minister Taneva will brief him on the measures taken by Bulgaria to contain African Swine Fever.

Owners of domestic pigs from the region of Parvomai will stage another protest against the order for the compulsory culling of "back yard" pigs as a step against the African Swine Fever outbreaks in the country. They plan to close the traffic on Haskovo-Svilengrad-Istanbul international road, reports BNT. 

Bulgaria will receive € 2.9 million in financial assistance from the European Union to fight African Swine Fever. This became clear after a meeting between Bulgaria's Minister of Agriculture Dessislava Taneva and EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis on August 6, reports BNT. 

The three industrial pig farms in Bulgaria's Rousse district where outbreaks of African Swine Fever were registered are awaiting 1.5 million BGN in compensation for the burial of culled animals and disinfection of the sites, reports BNT.

The amount was specified in a public procurement tender called by the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency. The contractors were selected by negotiations.

"By New Year's Eve the price of the pork in Bulgaria will be with about 50% higher than it was at the beginning of 2019. Its average price will be BGN 7.50." 'This is what Cyril Vatev, an expert of the Association of Meat Processors in Bulgaria told bTV.

From today, employees of the Food Safety Agency will begin checks on the private farms of people in the 20-kilometer surveillance zone. The aim is to determine whether farmers have voluntarily killed their domestic pigs.

The deadline expired on Friday. In the Plovdiv region the villages around the Industrial Zone of Rakovski, Stryama and Belozem will be checked first.

Industrial pig farmers on August 2 called for declaring a state of emergency in the whole of Bulgaria due to the spread of African Swine Fever.

Supported by representatives of meat production, meat processing, and grain producers, they demanded even stricter measures to halt the spread of the virus, which is about to cause huge economic losses to the country.