Classical swine fever

The Bulgarian Food Safety Authority (BFSA) finds new cases of African swine fever in feral pigs. One of them is from a village 24 km away from Sofia.

It is about Zhelyava, which is located after the village of Yana and is next to the Hemus highway. Jelyava is part of the Kremikovtsi metropolitan municipality.

Serbia has reported four suspected outbreaks of African swine fever among backyard pigs, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday.
Three of the cases were detected in the Belgrade area and one in the district of Podunavski, the OIE said, citing a report from Serbia's agriculture ministry.

There will undoubtedly be staffing and organizational changes in the Food Safety Agency, but we cannot make them at the peak of the African Swine Fever (ASF) infection when we need people on the sites, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Desislava Taneva told BNT1 breakfast program on August 9 in connection with the check appointed by the Chief Prosecutor into the Food Safety Agency 

The spread of African swine fever in Bulgaria, which threatens the Balkan country's pig breeding industry is worrying, an EU Commission spokeswoman said on Thursday, reports Euronews.

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.

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.

Greece bans pork imports from Bulgaria. Border checks are rigorous. Imports of pork and pork products are completely banned, BNR reports.

Preventive measures are being taken against the spread of African swine fever. The control of the authorities in the border regions with Bulgaria is strong.

Today will be the announced official results of the National Reference Laboratory in Sofia for the wild pigs that were shot in the Plovdiv Forestry area. A private laboratory has already confirmed the presence of African swine fever. This is the first case in southern Bulgaria.