The confirmation of new cases of African swine fever (ASF) in wild boars in Catalonia triggered the largest containment operation in Spain since 1994, with military, police, forest guards and technicians deployed to stop the spread of the virus. But the impact is no longer limited to the Spanish side of the border: Portugal is feeling pressure on the domestic market, with the entry of cheaper meat from Spain
How was the outbreak detected?
The first warning came on Friday, when Catalan environmental services found two dead wild boars in the Collserola Natural Park, on the outskirts of Barcelona. The laboratory analysis, carried out according to instructions from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, confirmed that the animals were infected with the African swine fever virus.
In the following days, authorities intensified surveillance and found more dead boars in the same area. The number of cases, all in the same forest area. The outbreak was immediately reported to the European Commission and the World Organization for Animal Health, as expected for notifiable diseases.
How did the virus reach Collserola Park?
According to the Government of Catalonia, the most credible hypothesis is that a wild boar ingested contaminated food left in a nearby service area. The Catalan Agriculture advisor, Òscar Ordeig, stated that the location of the outbreak next to very busy roads and areas where trucks circulate makes it “very likely” that the virus was introduced through .
The virus can survive for long periods in meat, sausages and pork by-products, remaining active even in adverse environmental conditions.
Why did Spain mobilize military personnel?
The answer lies in the aggressiveness of the virus and the consequences that an outbreak could have for the Spanish economy. The country’s Ministry of Agriculture explained that there were around 150 soldiers from the Military Emergency Unit, accompanied by around 250 agents from the Catalan police, Civil Protection and Forest Guards. These operatives are responsible for surrounding the affected area, collecting and analyzing carcasses, capturing suspected wild boars, ensuring access disinfection and permanently monitoring the perimeter to stop any possibility of spread.
According to the Catalan government, this is an “extraordinary operation” that aims to prevent the virus from reaching the 39 pig farms within a radius of 20 kilometers. To date, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, there is no record of infections in domestic pigs.
Why is the virus so dangerous?
DGAV explains that the PSA virus is highly resistant, surviving in the environment for extremely long periods. It remains active for months in wild boar corpses, for weeks in feces and urine and for more than a thousand days in frozen meat. This ability to resist low temperatures and putrefaction makes it particularly difficult to eliminate.
There are several posters similar to these spread around the area where the cases were detected (Getty Images)
Furthermore, there is no vaccine or treatment. Transmission can occur through direct contact between animals, through secretions and excretions, through the ingestion of contaminated meat or products and even indirectly, through equipment, clothing, vehicles or blood-sucking insects. , ASF is currently considered “the most serious threat to global pig farming”.
What is the immediate economic impact?
According to statements by the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, the detection of the outbreak immediately led to the suspension of around a third of Spanish pork export certificates. Several countries, including China, Taiwan, Mexico and the United Kingdom, have announced total or regional restrictions on imports.
The impact is also reaching Portugal. Speaking to CNN Portugal, the representative of the Portuguese Federation of Pig Farmers Associations (FPAS) confirms that, “at the moment, it is affecting us from an economic point of view because Spain was automatically prevented from exporting to third countries”. This means that, “being the largest European producer, what it cannot export will have to be placed on the domestic market”, generating “immediate pressure on the Iberian market”.
The person responsible admits that the effects are still at an early stage, but that they are inevitable.
“It is natural that, as the weeks go by and with the excess of meat that will inevitably be on the Spanish market, there will be increasing pressure, but through a normal market route – a supply much higher than demand.”
Is there a risk for Portugal?
DGAV immediately reinforced its alerts to Portuguese farms. These include the constant disinfection of vehicles and equipment, the correct disposal of by-products, the absolute prohibition of feeding kitchen waste to pigs, the need to reinforce surveillance in hunting areas and care in preventing food waste from becoming accessible to wild boars.
Portugal has not recorded any cases of ASF since 1999, but the geographic proximity, the movement of wild animals and the intense economic interaction with Spain require increased attention.
The FPAS representative agrees that, in terms of health, the situation “is very limited”, but reinforces that the risk is never zero. “The Spanish acted immediately. They have a restricted area with a radius of ten kilometers, with soldiers and drones actively searching for dead wild boars, and another area, measuring 50 kilometers, completely closed with no movement of pigs or wild animals”, he describes.
In this wider radius, there are three farms forced to carry out sanitary evacuation, he further explains: “They have to eliminate the animals that are there, to ensure that there is no possibility of spread.”
Are there any dangers for consumers?
According to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, aea, the ASF virus cannot be transmitted to humans and does not pose any risk to public health, even if someone consumes pork from an infected animal. Therefore, Spanish minister Luis Planas appealed for “consumers’ peace of mind”, reinforcing that the impact of the disease is exclusively economic and health, never food.
What to expect now?
The Catalan government reported that technicians from the Ministry of Agriculture and the European Commission are on the ground to monitor the response to the outbreak. Financial support was also announced for potentially affected producers. In the coming days, the results of the analyzes of wild boars that showed suspicious symptoms should be known, according to the newspaper La Vanguardia.
The FPAS representative also highlights a point that brought some relief to the markets: “China accepted the regionalization proposed by Spain.” This means that the restrictions only apply to the province of Barcelona, allowing the rest of the country to continue exporting normally to the Chinese market — a decision that “appeased the markets”.
Still, he warns, “this was decreed on Friday” and, therefore, “we have to see how the situation evolves”.
The authorities’ expectation is that the outbreak will remain contained in the Collserola area. However, they admit that the number of cases in wild boars could increase over the next few weeks, while tracking, surveillance and disinfection work takes place.
