African swine fever and outdoor farming of pigs
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Author
EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW)
Nielsen, Søren Saxmose
Alvarez, Julio
Bicout, Dominique Joseph
Calistri, Paolo
Canali, Elisabetta
Drewe, Julian Ashley
Garin-Bastuji, Bruno
Gonzales Rojas, Jose Luis
Herskin, Mette
Miranda Chueca, Miguel Ángel
Michel, Virginie
Padalino, Barbara
Pasquali, Paolo
Roberts, Helen Clare
Sihvonen, Liisa Helena
Spoolder, Hans
Stahl, Karl
Viltrop, Arvo
Winckler, Christoph
Blome, Sandra
More, Simon
Gervelmeyer, Andrea
Antoniou, Sotiria-Eleni
Gortázar Schmidt, Christian
Publication date
2021-06-09ISSN
1831-4732
Abstract
This opinion describes outdoor farming of pigs in the EU, assesses the risk of African swine fewer (ASF) introduction and spread associated with outdoor pig farms and proposes biosecurity and control measures for outdoor pig farms in ASF-affected areas of the EU. Evidence was collected from Member States (MSs) veterinary authorities, farmers’ associations, literature and legislative documents. An Expert knowledge elicitation (EKE) was carried out to group outdoor pig farms according to their risk of introduction and spread of ASF, to rank biosecurity measures regarding their effectiveness with regard to ASF and propose improvements of biosecurity for outdoor pig farming and accompanying control measures. Outdoor pig farming is common and various farm types are present throughout the EU. As there is no legislation at European level for categorising outdoor pig farms in the EU, information is limited, not harmonised and needs to be interpreted with care. The baseline risk of outdoor pig farms for ASFV introduction and its spread is high but with considerable uncertainty. The Panel is 66–90% certain that, if single solid or double fences were fully and properly implemented on all outdoor pig farms in areas of the EU where ASF is present in wild boar and in domestic pigs in indoor farms and outdoor farms (worst case scenario not considering different restriction zones or particular situations), without requiring any other outdoor-specific biosecurity measures or control measures, this would reduce the number of new ASF outbreaks occurring in these farms within a year by more than 50% compared to the baseline risk. The Panel concludes that the regular implementation of independent and objective on-farm biosecurity assessments using comprehensive standard protocols and approving outdoor pig farms on the basis of their biosecurity risk in an official system managed by competent authorities will further reduce the risk of ASF introduction and spread related to outdoor pig farms.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
636 - Animal husbandry and breeding in general. Livestock rearing. Breeding of domestic animals
Pages
113
Publisher
Wiley Open Access
Is part of
EFSA Journal
Citation
Nielsen, Søren Saxmose, Julio Alvarez, Dominique Joseph Bicout, Paolo Calistri, Elisabetta Canali, Julian Ashley Drewe, and Bruno Garin‐Bastuji et al. 2021. "African Swine Fever And Outdoor Farming Of Pigs". EFSA Journal 19 (6). doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6639.
Program
Benestar Animal
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2850]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/