The resolution of the Hon. Bruzzone
"It is with great attention and satisfaction that we welcome the approval by the Agriculture Committee of the Chamber of Resolution 84, first signed by theHon Bruzzone on the subject of PSA” commented Pietro D'Angeli, President of Assica – Industrial Association of Meats and Cured Meats, on the news of the parliamentary proceedings of 20 June. The articulated text of the motion demonstrates the high level of attention of the Commission's parliamentarians for an issue on which Assica has never stopped working both as companies on the front line and as a trade association, collaborating at every level for the development of strategies and solutions aimed at the eradication of this veterinary disease which is as harmless to humans as it is pernicious for the pig production chain and its fine meat and salami productions.
The differences with the EU
Since January 2022, the supply chain has lost 20 million euros a month in exports to those third countries that have stopped sending Italian meat and cured meats as a precaution, without recognizing the application of the zoning principle as the EU does. The initiatives put in place up to now have revealed various limitations and now it is no longer possible to postpone a decisive and more intense action than before for the total safety of those cradle areas of national pig farming such as upper Piedmont, Lombardy and the Emilia Romagna which are closely threatened by the appearance of new outbreaks (for example the recent findings in the province of Pavia which bring the cases even closer to the territories with the highest density of domestic farms such as the Po Valley and the province of Cuneo).
The wild boars
“The risk is that the production capacities of basic national pig farming could be compromised and therefore the raw material for the precious productions of Parma and San Daniele, among others, could be lacking – continued the President. It is our primary objective to do everything possible to achieve a timely eradication of the disease: the actions to be taken have been known for some time and range from the installation of fences to protect and contain wild animals, to programmed killings by professional subjects capable of intensifying the rate of depopulation of the main vehicle of transmission of the disease, the wild boar”.
What does the resolution involve?
Assica will continue to make itself available and deal with every forum, every table, every institution that deals with ASF so that attention remains high, the necessary funds are quickly found and the eradication activity implemented so far is intensified just as promptly. “We thank the Honorable Bruzzone and his colleagues for this act of direction which will give us the opportunity to confront the Government with even more determination so that the provisions of the resolution itself are implemented: installation of systems for the prevention and protection of farms (fences in areas free from ASF but more sensitive in terms of quantity and value of production), intensified culling of wildlife and prompt eradication of the disease from the continental territory” concluded President D'Angeli (source: Assica).