A second outbreak of African swine fever has been discovered at a pig farm owned by Basic Element's Kuban agribusiness group, Basel said in a statement, Interfax reported Wednesday.
Traces of the swine fever virus were found in samples from pigs that died at farm No. 6 in the city of Ust-Labinsk. The first case occurred at the farm on July 26.
"Work has now begun in the outbreak zone to destroy the animals. All 2,209 pigs will be killed bloodlessly and subsequently cremated," Basel said.
Basel said the farm is carefully taking all necessary precautions. Regular inspections for compliance with veterinary standards did not find any violations, and the causes of the outbreak will be investigated by a special commission.
Quarantine guard posts are operating round-the-clock on highways at the entrance to the city. Disinfection barriers have been set up, markets have been closed for quarantine and all pigs in the private sector that were within the first trouble zone have been destroyed.
A swine fever quarantine was imposed in the Krasnodar region Tuesday.
However, experts and managers at Kuban believe the measures being taken to prevent the spread of the disease are insufficient. Basel urged the government to deal with the situation.
"It is necessary to take into account that laboratories … in the region do not have equipment to detect the [swine fever] virus in meat, there is also no means to quickly detect the [swine fever] virus in products from which formula feed is made," the company said, adding that it is also still possible to move pigs and meat on transportation that is not properly equipped.
Meanwhile, Belarus has introduced veterinary inspections for a number of products from Russia in connection with flare-ups of African swine fever in the country, the Belarussian Agriculture and Food Ministry's department for veterinary and food oversight said in a statement.
On the list of things affected are hogs, pork and pork products, hunting trophies, wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, soybean, meat products, subproducts and blood, rennet cheeses and other finished products containing meat, products for feeding livestock, and other items.
"According to official information from the International Epizootic Bureau, there have been loci of African swine fever constantly on Russian territory for the past three years. While on Jan. 1, 2011 there were nine regions affected by African swine fever in Russia, now there are already 25 such regions," the statement said.
The department's main focus of concern is the situation in the Tver region, which is about 300 kilometers from the border of Belarus' Vitebsk region.
