Japan sets rules on preventive culling over ASF

January 31, 2020

Tokyo--A Japanese farm ministry panel on Friday approved a plan to allow preventive culling of healthy pigs within 3 kilometers of confirmed infections with African swine fever.

The measure will be included in ministry guidelines under the revised law on controlling domestic animal infectious diseases set to take effect Wednesday.

The guidelines stipulate that such preventive culling is allowable only if there are no other measures that can be taken to prevent the spread of ASF.

Specifically, preventive culling will be allowed within a radius of 500 meters to 3 kilometers of an affected farm or a location where a wild boar infected with the disease is discovered.

In the event of a discovery of an ASF-infected wild boar, the area where pigs are culled will be set based on levels of hygiene control at pig farms in the neighborhood, as well as the distribution of the local boar population. Jiji Press