African Swine Fever virus entered through an unlawful consignment?

In the wake of African swine fever triggering fears about possible extinction of Sri Lanka’s wild boar population in addition to the damage on the pork industry, Sri Lanka’s biosecurity surveillance is under question since the virus is suspected to have entered the country through an unlawful consignment imported into the country during the time of the previous government in 2023.

The authorities contemplate the dispensing of the entire swine population and pork products to make sure that the country is free from the virus for the industry to begin afresh.

Swine fever has already killed pigs and entered the wild, raising concerns that the entire wild boar population will be wiped out. Currently, the wildlife health authorities find it difficult to contain the spread of virus in the wild, both in protected and unprotected areas.

Initially, the Department of Animal Production and Health reported to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation that the virus would have arrived with food wastes from aircrafts and ships that arrived in the country’s seaports and airports from the infected countries.

However, it is now suspected whether the virus spread into the country from an unlawful consignment of pork products that was not repatriated to the place of origin immediately. It is suspected that some items from this consignment had been leaked into the country.

An official of the Ministry said it would appoint a committee of experts soon to ascertain the veracity of this suspicion.

“Earlier, we were told by the Department of Animal Production and Health that the virus would have arrived with food wastes. Now the suspicion that it came from an unlawful consignment is gaining ground. We are going to probe it. We will appoint a committee soon for it. According to the initial report, the virus came from food wastes used as animal feed finally. Now, we have two possibilities. We will probe to ascertain veracity. We have to find it out especially because imports are prohibited from the countries affected by this disease,” he said.

Asked how the pork industry will be revived, he said the entire domestic swine population and pork products remaining should be dispensed with first to make sure that the country is now virus free.

“We have a parent stock of animals now remaining. If we lose them, we can import them. There are international organizations willing to help us. We get unofficial reports about pork products being stored without permission. We have to destroy the swine population and products alike,” he said.

Asked about the size of the industry, he said it had not been a sector properly regulated and even swine deaths were concealed from the authorities initially.

“When the number of deaths increased in large numbers, they could not hide it anymore,” he said.