Spain believes that biosecurity measures in livestock farming and agriculture need to be tightened. According to the Spanish Minister of Agriculture Luis Planas, biosecurity on farms must be expanded to prevent the spread of animal diseases such as avian influenza and African swine fever.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has already imposed export and transport restrictions on Germany, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania to prevent the spread of African swine fever.
“Spain is Europe’s largest pig producer, a position that must be maintained both nationally and on international markets,” emphasized Planas in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE.
According to him, African swine fever represents a “potential threat” to the Spanish pig industry. The closest countries where ASF is already present are Germany and Italy, so “great care in biosecurity and control is needed.” Planas also called for utmost caution regarding the import and transport of animals and animal feed from ASF-affected countries.
Furthermore, Minister Planas said that another animal disease, avian influenza, is virtually permanently present on the Iberian Peninsula, with the number of outbreaks much higher than before. So far this year, Spain has recorded 32 cases of H5N1 outbreaks in poultry farms. The latest outbreak was at a turkey farm in Huelva, where about 15,000 birds were culled.
Planas stressed that avian influenza is a disease directly related to migratory birds, so “biosecurity and isolation measures on poultry farms must be strengthened to prevent spread,” for example through large-scale vaccinations, according to Planas. He pointed out that at the European level, work is underway on a possible vaccine against avian influenza.