This image is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]
This image is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]

As African swine fever spread nationwide this year, the government is strengthening its biosecurity framework across the entire production chain — from the entry of foreign workers to farm operations, slaughterhouses and feed manufacturing. Wild boar management will also be restructured on a region-by-region basis to block the virus from reaching farms.

The Central Disaster Management Headquarters for African Swine Fever announced Sunday it had drawn up and would implement a comprehensive plan to reinforce biosecurity management across the full ASF prevention cycle. The plan covers every link in the chain: foreign worker management, interception of illegal livestock products, farm surveillance, slaughterhouse inspections, feed manufacturing and wild boar control.

Since ASF was first detected on domestic pig farms in September 2019, a total of 79 cases have been confirmed. This year in particular, 24 outbreaks occurred between Jan. 16 and March 16 across seven cities and provinces — Gyeonggi, Gangwon, North Gyeongsang, South Chungcheong, North Jeolla, South Jeolla and South Gyeongsang — signaling a widening spread.

Following preemptive biosecurity measures, no additional cases have been reported since March 16, and the government lifted all movement restrictions in ASF control zones nationwide on April 22. However, 22 cities and counties in Gyeonggi, Gangwon, North Gyeongsang and South Chungcheong provinces remain at the "Serious" alert level, as ASF continues to be detected in wild boar populations.

Drawing on epidemiological investigations into this year's outbreaks, the government identified plasma protein feed ingredients, illegal livestock products and contamination through wild boar as the main risk factors, and has revised its biosecurity management framework accordingly.

The first priority is tightening biosecurity controls for foreign workers. The government will build a system that automatically notifies farm owners and local governments when foreign workers enter the country, ensuring barrier biosecurity training is completed before they begin work. Educational materials produced in seven languages will be used to reinforce training on biosecurity rules, including a ban on bringing in illegal livestock products.

Controls on illegal livestock products will also be tightened. Quarantine inspections at airports and seaports will be expanded, with a focus on countries where ASF has been detected, and administrative penalties will be strengthened for pig farm workers who bring or store illegal livestock products on farm premises. Joint crackdowns on foreign food retailers will increase from twice to four times a year, and online sales monitoring will be conducted year-round.

Farm surveillance methods will also change. The approach will shift from random blood sampling to carcass and environmental testing, supplemented by inspections of stunted pigs, with the aim of identifying infected farms early. Pig samples submitted to 22 private veterinary diagnostic institutions nationwide will also be included in ASF testing.

Slaughterhouse management will be reinforced as well. A year-round ASF testing system will operate across all 64 pig slaughterhouses in the country, and blood samples from the 36 slaughterhouses that supply blood as a feed ingredient will be tested daily. Virus testing of slaughterhouse interiors and vehicles will continue on an ongoing basis.

At the feed manufacturing stage, the government will institutionalize standard sterilization and disinfection processes for feed derived from pig blood, and will manage production records from raw material intake through to finished product dispatch. An ASF testing system for outgoing products will also be established to enable rapid tracing and containment if an anomaly is detected.

Wild boar management will be differentiated by region. In areas where outbreaks have already occurred, detection dogs and specialist search teams will be deployed to step up capture operations and carcass searches. In newly affected areas, additional GPS-equipped capture traps will be installed to contain further spread.

"Recent ASF outbreaks appear to result from a combination of multiple pathways, including feed ingredients, illegal livestock products and human movement," said Park Jeong-hun, director general for food policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. "We will fundamentally block the possibility of virus introduction by strengthening biosecurity management at every stage — from the entry of foreign workers through to farms, slaughterhouses and feed manufacturing." He added that the ministry would pursue parallel wild boar management efforts to minimize the risk of the virus reaching farms.


adastra@heraldcorp.com