Yesterday, veterinarian Paweł Niemczuk informed about a very shocking case. The USA temporarily stopped importing our pork. Reason? The meat may have come from establishments in the African swine fever zone.
Sudden decision
Due to the time difference between the United States and Poland, the Veterinary Inspection found out only today about the temporary suspension of pork imports. The meat that was withdrawn on October 18 is all kinds of frozen and chilled pork products. We do not know the date up to which the import ban applies.
Reservations to Sokołów and Morlina
The decision has not been made globally, so plants that are not in the ASF risk zone can still supply meat to the US. America has reservations mainly about two plants, but they are in the danger zone, these are Morliny and Sokołów. On the other hand, the head of the Veterinary Inspection emphasizes that these plants are excluded from this zone in accordance with the decision of the European Commission. IW informs that the plants did not make any mistakes, and the meat has been delivered to the Americans without any reservations since 2014.
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ASF and Eastern Europe
In fact, it was the Reuters agency that announced the first information about the suspension of pork imports by the US. It turns out that ASF is spreading fairly quickly throughout Eastern Europe and China. The United States is far from this threat and its decision is based on the desire to guard itself against a considerable danger. The agency said the US looked at Polish reports, which probably suggest that one facility did not comply with requirements to prevent the spread of disease in livestock. The second bet was also checked.
UPEMI
UPEMI is the Union of Producers and Employers of the Meat Industry. Their president, Wiesław Różański, informs that the US decision is very disturbing because both this country and Canada "are the largest recipients of Polish meat from non-EU countries". In the past, such decisions have already taken place, but the period of non-delivery of meat lasted no more than 60 days. Hopefully it will be much shorter this time and the situation will clear up soon.
