National Food Authority seeks EC support with the development of ASF control strategy

Improving epidemiological investigations and the compensation procedure for breeders affected by the African swine fever (ASF) were among the main topics of discussion during the European Commission's May 16 - 20 ASF technical assistance mission to Romania, the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) said in a release on Monday.

The Authority requested the European Commission's support with the development of an ASF control strategy in Romania, in the form of technical and scientific assistance.

"Based on their epidemiological and practical expertise, European Commission experts shared their experience in conducting and assessing epidemiological investigations, thus instructing official veterinarians who will coordinate epidemiological investigations at local level. During the mission, the strategic goals, specific actions and lessons learned were detailed with a view to adjusting these measures to our country's reality," the ANSVSA release states.

The purpose of the discussions was to improve the ASF epidemiological situation so that steps could be taken to regionalize Romania's territory, which would allow the resumption of intra-Community trade in pigs and pork products.

Another topic discussed was the improvement of the procedure for compensation and the establishment of the market price by animal and production categories, a context in which technical discussions were conducted with EC experts from Bulgaria and Lithuania, two states with a pig breeding system similar to Romania's. National Food Authority seeks EC support with the development of ASF control strategy

The ASF technical assistance mission was part of the Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) initiative, and the mission team consisted of 3 European Commission experts: Dr. Klaus Depner (Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut) from Germany, Dr. Paulius Busauskas - representative of Lithuania's State Food and Veterinary Service, and Dr. Tsviatko Alexandrov - representative of Bulgaria's Food Safety Authority.

Romania was represented by a delegation led by ANSVSA president Dr. Alexandru Bociu, and which included ANSVSA vice-president Dr. Laszlo Nagy Csutak, central office experts, experts from the National Reference Laboratory and from 8 counties representative for ASF activity.

Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forestry, and the pig farming industry were also invited. AGERPRES