The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture has recently confirmed its first outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in over 30 years.
ASF has so far been detected in nine wild boars that were found dead in the same municipality of Cerdanyola del Vallés, which is near Barcelona.
Following the outbreak, Spain has deployed its military emergency unit to help contain the outbreak and prevent it from spreading to livestock farms.
The Spanish Minister for Agriculture, Luis Planas emphasised the importance of these containment efforts in protecting the country’s pork sector, which generated over €8 billion in exports in 2024.
Prevention measures
A 20km control and surveillance zone has been put in place around the area where the cases were detected.
The ministry stated that testing has been carried out on pig farms within the 20km zone, with the results coming back negative for ASF.
Hunting has also been prohibited within the affected area to prevent the movement of wild boars and the potential spread of the virus beyond the zone.
Additionally, a total of 120 members from the rural agents corps have been deployed, along with 26 operational teams, to search for carcasses and set traps to reduce the density of wild boar populations within the area.
Exports
The Minister Planas described the pork sector as an “exporting powerhouse”.
According to the Spanish ministry, all exports of Spanish pork to EU markets currently “remain open, except for products from farms located in the affected area”.
Outside of the EU, Britain and China have followed suit in suspending imports of pork from Spanish farms within the control and surveillance zone.
ASF
The Spanish ministry explained that ASF is “a disease that does not affect humans, either through contact with infected animals or by ingesting products derived from them.”
It has recommended all farmers to implement strict biosecurity measures on their pig farm and during transporting livestock.
The ministry requested that any suspected cases of ASF, whether in wild boar or on pig farms, should be reported to the Spanish veterinary services.
