According to the Da Nang Food Safety Management Board, recent surprise inspections showed all the city-based supermarkets have certificates of origin for their meat products on sale. Pork products totally meet the national food safety standards.

The local supermarkets have also taken samples of pork randomly for testing of African swine fever (ASF) virus affection.

In the coming days, the city’s Food Safety Management Board will increase its checks over ASF epidemic prevention activities at markets, pig farms, and slaughterhouses across the city.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to date, the ASF epidemic has been reported in a total of 57 districts of 18 northern and central provinces and cities nationwide with a total of 26,807 infected pigs being destroyed.

No case of ASF has been found in the city until now.

In particular, this epidemic has spread to Quynh Luu District, Nghe An Province. In response to this tense situation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has sent a dispatch to the authorities of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces to take strict control over the transportation of pigs and pork products from the northern localities to the South.

It will be dangerous to let the epidemic spread to the south where the key pig farming localities of Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City are located. Management over the transport of pigs on National Highway 1 and the Ho Chi Minh Highway needs tightening.

Two quarantine checkpoints with round-the-clock operations have been set up in the central province of Quang Binh to prevent the ASF disease from spreading to southern localities.

The public should buy pork with clear origin from reliable places. Besides, they should not eat the meat without cooking it thoroughly.

African swine fever does not affect humans but causes haemorrhagic fever in pigs and wild boars that is almost always fatal. There is currently no antidote or vaccine, with the only known preventative measure being a mass cull of infected livestock. The disease spreads by contact between infected pigs or other wild animals and can inflict massive economic damage on farms.