The emergence of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Mongolia has alerted Russia’s veterinary authority Rosselkhoznadzor which has prohibited importing pigs and pork from early February. The decision was taken primarily because Mongolia has been supplying meat products to regions in south-east Siberia, which is a part of Russia, where there are no major pork production facilities, so historically it has had a higher dependence on imports.

The nearest Russian territories in question are the Republic of Buryatia, the Irkutsk Oblast and the Zabaikalskii Krai.

Erdem Sangardiev, who is chairman of the Buryatian veterinary department, said that in total 8 tonnes of sausages containing the ASF genome had been imported from Mongolia. Out of this batch 6 tonnes were seized at the warehouse and 2 tonnes had been sold to the customers. Following the ASF alert, the veterinary services managed to get only 300 kg back. It is therefore assumed that that the rest had already been consumed.

Pig and pork exports to Russia may be resumed if the Mongolian authorities can provide an investigation demonstrating how the infected sausages could have entered the supply chain.