A Chinese storage employee tests positive for COVID-19 after reportedly handling frozen pork imported from Germany.
It happened in a northern port city. Authorities sealed off the cold storage center and contacted three districts where the cold chain food was shipped. Chinese customs have said that they will suspend imports from companies for a week if frozen food products test positive.
Many major importers have banned German pork since the ASF discovery in September.
USDA Outlook Board Chairman, Mark Jekanowski says that this could open the window for increased shipments from the U.S. and other key pork exporters.
“China has cut off imports from Germany. So, that’s had trade implications for the livestock complex, hogs in particular, kind of a change in global trade partners,” Jekanowski states. “That presumably opens up opportunities for other countries, other major pork producers, like the U.S., to supply some of that product.”
According to The Pig Site, China now accounts for nearly 8 percent of U.S. pork production, compared to around 2 percent in 2018.
A new analysis shows feed ingredients imported to the U.S. from countries with ASF pose a risk to the pork industry.
The analysis by Vet Now and One Health Solutions says that it is imperative that swine feed ingredients from affected countries be treated with increased scrutiny and caution.
In 2018, the U.S. imported more than a 100,000- metric tons of product via ports from 43 countries that have detected cases recently.
ASF can live on soy-based products for 30 days and there is worry it could live long enough to make it to the U.S. shores then be shipped across the country.
Related:
National Pork Board on African swine fever
Guarding against African swine fever
EPA approves disinfectant that could control ASF