ASF Risk Assesment by Eyes of Meat Processors

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With support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders (AUPB) surveyed representatives of abattoirs and meat processing plants on their assessment of the risks of the spread of swine disease since the start of the full-scale invasion. Questioning of representatives of meat processing industry and other participants of domestic pork market (industrial and domestic pork producers, hunters, etc.) the ASU carries out in the framework of the project «Ensuring Animal Health in Ukraine».

80% of the respondent boars did not note the worsening of the epizootic situation on ASF since the war and did not refuse to cooperate with pig farms because of a suspected outbreak of ASF in them. In addition, only 15% of respondents noticed an increase in spontaneous meat trade over the past year, and the increase in such sales, according to the processors, ranges from 15% to 50%.

Although most of the surveyed slaughterhouses and meat processing plants do not believe that now the risk of ASF spread is higher than in previous years, the operators do not weaken anti-epizootic measures. In particular, they control that only identified animals are slaughtered, transport animals only in specialized company-owned vehicles that are washed and disinfected after each trip. Attention to such preventive measures explains the fact that in the opinion of the majority of respondents (45%) the main reason for the spread of ASF in Ukraine is the violation of biosafety rules.

A detailed overview of the antiepizootic measures taken by the representatives of domestic slaughterhouses, as well as the analysis of the results of the survey of other Ukrainian pork market participants, together with the recommendations based on it, will be published in the final report of the study.


The Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders is a non-profit, voluntary organization founded by domestic pork producers. The main purposes of the association are representation and protection of rights and interests of farms of the association, assistance in development and introduction of new technologies for efficient production of pork, expansion of sales markets, and protection of domestic sales market.