A sector on its knees
The Lombardy Region Councilor for Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Alessandro Beduschi, comments on the news relating to the ongoing investigations into important food products illegally from China and tested positive for ASF-African Swine Fever after several checks in Italy. Alessandro Beduschi“What is emerging – declares Beduschi – is very serious for two reasons. On the one hand, snacks of Chinese origin are offered as 'vegan' but instead contain chicken and pork, thus defrauding consumers. On the other hand, these meats could have triggered the ASF epidemic in Italy, risking bringing our agri-food sector to its knees."
Hearing in the Agriculture Committee
In the hearing held on Tuesday 16 January in Rome in the Agriculture Committee of the Chamber, the Government's Extraordinary Commissioner for the fight against African Swine Fever (ASF), Vincenzo Caputo, announced the investigation, starting by the Naples Local Health Authority, of 11 PSA positivity in 22 samples of bars with dehydrated products declared vegetable but containing pork, highlighting the risk that the residues of these foods, in the form of waste, have transmitted the Swine Fever virus to wild boars.
Lombardy and Italy defend their controlled food
“Italy – continues councilor Beduschi – can no longer accept a lack of reciprocity on everything, starting from controls on goods arriving from non-transparent countries. And fortunately now there is a different policy that has the courage to seek out and denounce these facts. While Italian and Lombardy food is the most controlled in Europe and subjected to very strict rules, in every area we import goods produced without similar attention". “So – he continues – it turns out that tampering with a label translated from Chinese is enough to cause damage to a supply chain worth billions of euros. A reality which in Lombardy, since last summer, has in fact run a very serious risk with the entry of the virus into the farms in the province of Pavia".
Institutions must support breeders
“The institutions – concludes Beduschi – have the duty to support breeders both with prevention and by restoring the damage caused by blockades and commercial stops and in the coming weeks we will demonstrate this by activating the procedures to compensate the Pavia companies with the funds made available by the MASAF. But if there are those who attack our markets by not respecting the rules, all our efforts will be in vain. Today it applies to the pig production chain, tomorrow for whom?” (source: Lombardy Region).