Farming:

Despite other issues possibly being to the fore of his mind, the National Pig Association has called on the Prime Minister to take action to improve the UK’s border controls in light of the growing risk of African swine fever reaching the UK.

In the absence of formal biosecurity checks on meat products from the EU, NPA chairman Rob Mutimer has called for more robust checks at points of entry - including the use of sniffer dogs to identify smuggled meat which could transmit the devastating disease of pigs.

Recent developments have seen ASF spread in Europe with three outbreaks in domestic pigs recorded in different parts of Germany, 500 km apart.

A similar jump was also made in Italy and, claiming that these were not isolate incidents, Mutimer said that 1800 ASF cases had been confirmed in domestic pigs in Europe in the 12 months to the end of May.

“If no biosecurity checks are taking place at UK borders to prevent and deter the illegal import of contaminated meats, we are leaving ourselves worryingly vulnerable to a catastrophe,” he added.

“While the Government awaits the introduction of a new digital trading system, we ask that our borders be significantly better protected through more robust checks at all points of entry, including ports, airports and postal hubs.”

He said recent investigations at airports had seen significant quantities of illegal meat imports seized, which appears to be ‘indicative of a far wider problem’.

And, with Scottish authorities introducing sniffer dog teams to detect products of animal origin, he called for a UK-wide expansion of this initiative.