Moscow - African swine fever was identified in four of five samples of finished meat products produced at the Minsk Meat-Packing Plant and shipped to the Murmansk region, Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement.
Because of this, Russia’s veterinary service imposed temporary restrictions on meat shipments from the plant.
This is the second case of African swine fever discovered in Belarusian meat products. In early October, temporary restrictions were placed on products from Orsha Meat-Packing Plant because of African swine fever.
“The seriousness of the situation that has arisen requires that Belarus’ veterinary service carry out an immediate and thorough investigation on the ways in which meat materials infected with African swine fever ended up in the products of the Minsk and Orsha meat-packing plants. For its part, Rosselkhoznadzor believes it is necessary to increase laboratory safety testing of all Belarusian meat products entering the Russian market,” the watchdog said.
The Russian veterinary services have previously reported that cases of African swine fever had been uncovered in EU countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Estonia. According to Rosselkhoznadzor, European countries are not taking sufficient measures to fight African swine fever, which results in the disease being spread to populations of wild and domestic animals. “Brussels’ rhetoric has not changed since the first foci of the disease were registered on EU territory. The European Commission is again trying to save its reputation by accusing Russia and Belarus in all troubles,” the watchdog has said.
The situation with African swine fever and illegal shipments of meat onto the Russian market have been discussed during telephone talks between Rosselkhoznadzor Deputy Chief Yevgeny Nepoklonov and Belarusian Chief Veterinary Inspector Yury Pivovarchik, Rosselkhoznadzor said on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
Nepoklonov informed Belarus that Russia had intercepted attempts to smuggle meat products into Russia, including through Belarus. Reportedly, 7,500 tonnes of Brazilian pork were shipped from Klaipeda through Belarus and Russia to Kazakhstan, and then from Kazakhstan to Russia to be sold. The investigation that took place after the seizure found that the accompanying documents, including the veterinary certificate issued by the Lithuanian veterinary services, were fake, Rosselkhoznadzor said.
In addition, representatives from Belarus’ veterinary services conducted an inspection at the domestic borders of the Customs Union. The representatives did not say that documents were falsified, nor did they take into account that Brazilian pork was not being shipped to the EU, including for transit to third-party countries. Similar cases would be impossible if Belarus’ veterinary services fully used the electronic systems for certification and tracking that Rosselkhoznadzor has implemented, Nepoklonov added.
He also said Rosselkhoznadzor specialists were ready to fly to Belarus and Kazakhstan soon to investigate the situation and work out joint measures to combat the illegal actions taking place with shipments of products being monitored by the state veterinary services.
