An emergency meeting concluded on Friday allowed the general government and the Catalan livestock sector to agree to start the slaughter of 30,000 healthy pigs near the source of the African swine fever infection detected in Barcelona. In this way, the animals in the monitoring area will begin to be transported to the slaughterhouse. Their meat will be used for internal consumption, the Young Farmers and Ranchers Association of Catalonia (JARC) explained to Europe Press.
The Association of Young Agriculturalists (ASAGA) defends that this measure, among other things, seeks to reassure a key sector of the economy, due to its strong impact on sales volumes. He pointed out that pigs are healthy and their meat is fit for consumption. The agreement reached on Friday was one of the measures demanded by Merculida, a reference market to set the price of pork.
In addition to representatives of the livestock sector, the meeting was attended by Catalan Minister of the Presidency Albert Dalmau, Head of Agriculture Oscar Ordig, and Head of Research Nuria Montserrat.
The decision comes after the discovery of 15 infected animals since the warning was issued due to the presence of swine fever in Catalonia, an impact that led to the closure of some markets and the price of a kilo of pork to fall by 10 cents to 1.20 euros. The Catalan government is trying to calm the sector, highlighting that the vast majority of pigs found dead are free of swine fever, which is being investigated if they come from a scientific laboratory located on the outskirts of Collserola. The European Commission has identified 91 municipalities as affected by the outbreak.