LONDON (Reuters) -Britain said on Friday it would temporarily stop imports of pork meat from parts of Spain after the country confirmed its first cases of African swine fever in just over three decades.
Britain is one of Spain's main customers for pork, and the move comes as authorities in Madrid activated emergency measures in Catalonia, a region central to pig farming.
"Following an outbreak of African Swine Fever in Spain, all fresh pork and other affected products from Spain will be held at Border Control Posts until further notice," Britain's environment department (DEFRA) said in a statement.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and keep all measures under review," it added.
Spain exported 37,600 metric tons of fresh and frozen pork to Britain so far in 2025, worth over 112 million euros ($129.93 million), up 17% in volume and 9.5% in value compared with all of 2024, according to data from the government-backed body the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.
The virus is a highly contagious disease that affects pigs and wild boar but poses no risk to humans. It has no vaccine or cure and often leads to mass culling when detected in farmed herds.
The disease has spread westwards in Europe in recent years, disrupting pork markets and prompting trade bans. Germany's outbreak in 2020 led to sweeping restrictions from major buyers such as China, while Croatia has battled infections in recent months.
Spain, the European Union's top pork producer, has so far avoided the virus in domestic pigs since 1994, making the latest detection in wild boar near Barcelona a significant concern for its 8-billion-euro ($9.28 billion) pork industry and export markets.
Britain's government earlier this year banned personal imports of ham and other meat and dairy products from all EU countries to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, following a rising number of cases.
($1 = 0.8620 euros)
(Reporting by Disha Mishra, Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru and Sam Tabahriti in London; Editing by Chris Reese)
latest_posts
- 1
Astronauts beam home Christmas wishes from International Space Station: 'I think we may be orbiting a little higher than Santa' (video) - 2Vote in favor of the bloom plan that adds a bit of excellence to your life!
- 3Doctors thought he had cancer. An offhand suggestion led to a rare diagnosis.
- 4Mars spacecraft images pinpoint comet 3I/ATLAS's path with 10x higher accuracy. This could help us protect Earth someday
- 5Investigation reveals sperm donor passed on cancer risk to dozens of children across Europe
- There’s ‘super flu,’ COVID, RSV. Is it going around in SoCal?
- Outer space conditions hamper sperm's ability to navigate toward an egg
- How to see the Ursids, the final meteor shower of 2025
- Home Remodel Administrations: Change Your Residing Space
- Must-Have Cooking Machine in Your Kitchen
- Manual for Mountain Objections on the planet
- In Antarctica, photos show a remote area teeming with life amid growing risks from climate change
- The Manual for Decent European Urban communities in 2024
- The powerful new Rubin Observatory just found 11,000 new asteroids and measured 'tens of thousands more'
