Russia: Source of ASF in meat products undetermined

The department of Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) for Krasnodar Krai and the Republic of Adygea completed an investigation on the recent case when the gene of African Swine Fever virus was identified in the shipment of local sausages.

The primary lead that the producer of the sausages used the meat of pigs that died or were sick with ASF during investigation was not confirmed. Therefore, the source of infection so far has not been detected.

According to veterinary specialists the ASF virus could not be found in processed meat products in Russia, because the virus is killed at a temperature of 60°C, while the sausages and most other meat products are produced at temperatures of 72°C.

“We have already sampled material from the processing facility. During its study in the Krasnodar interregional veterinary laboratory results of Rosselkhoznadzor the result showed ASF presence was negative. We also took samples at the slaughterhouse, and the samples of meat of animals previously killed here. All results on the presence of ASF were also negative. Currently we continue to monitor the movement of production,” said the chief of Rosselkhoznadzor for the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea Murad Muradian.

The meat-by products with ASF virus repeatedly hit the market in recent months. As a result of a major outbreak in the Krasnodar region, as well as outbreaks in the Leningrad region, thousands of people consumed the contaminated products.