Who is to blame for foot and mouth disease?

The outbreak of FMD on the farm LLC “VKV” became known on 20 October. According to representatives of administration of the region, preventive measures started on the same day. Authorities said that in Sobinsky district all the cows will be vaccinated free of charge, those kept on agricultural production cooperatives and in households. For these purposes, the Institute for the protection of animals in Yurjevts has already allocated 20 thousand doses of vaccines. Another 80 thousand doses of vaccine were supposed to do in the coming hours.

The Head of LLC “VKV” refrained from commenting in the press. On other farms of the region it was confirmed that on the day the outbreak was announced, farms began to receive the vaccine against FMD.

It is unknown why vaccination was canceled. However, according to the Ministry of agriculture from May 2016, following the award of the Russian Federation the status of a country free of FMD, "the Rosselkhoznadzor in the course of 2015 actively worked on obtaining the Russian Federation official recognition of International epizootic Bureau status of a country with a zone free of FMD without vaccination, in order to generate opportunities for export of livestock products from this area to foreign countries. According to International epizootic Bureau procedure applications from member countries are considered at meetings of the relevant working group of International epizootic Bureau, which are held 2 times a year. The materials prepared by working group are submitted to the Scientific Commission of International epizootic Bureau, which makes the final decision on awarding of the mentioned status or the decision to refuse".

When information about the outbreak of foot and mouth disease appeared in the media, the Ministry of agriculture reported about the control of the situation.

In the Federal Rosselkhoznadzor, The DairyNews was said that the Agency is working with the regional veterinary service on the elimination of the outbreak.

"There are no official versions about the reasons of the outbreak yet. It is necessary to conduct sequencing of the virus genome to pinpoint where it came from. Previously, this is virus of group A-1 that has Asian origin", - said the assistant head of the Rosselkhoznadzor Alexei Alekseenko.

SABOTAGE OR CARELESSNESS

The head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Vladimir Nagorny said that today several versions are being considered, including the introduction of the virus from countries where foot and mouth disease is recorded more often - Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey. It is not excluded that the virus is brought from the plant located near Moscow, where strain of the virus for vaccine production is cultivated and also sabotage.

According to some representatives of the enterprises of Vladimir region, surveyed by The DairyNews, the reason is the lack of vaccination and lack of attention from veterinary services. "There are a lot of workers from Asia, from Tajikistan on farms, they could bring the virus," said one of the participants of the regional market.

Today the Rosselkhoznadzor actively engaged in the inspection of finished dairy products in addition to the basic functions, reported that the Agency conducts an internal investigation into the situation. "Permits are issued by the local veterinary service, now we are talking about the state veterinary service of Vladimir region. Was it a formal issue or are they directly checked products and what control was on their part - we are now conducting an internal investigation," - said the press-Secretary of Rosselkhoznadzor Julia Melano.

WITHDRAWN MILK

6-7 tons of raw milk was supplied by the farm "VKV" to the plant "Opole", a branch of PepsiCo. The capacity of the enterprise is much bigger. However, by the recommendation of Rospotrebnadzor, the company has withdrawn all of its products issued from 1 to 19 October from the shelves – in total about 4 thousand tons of dairy products.

"We are working closely with Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor, we have carried out all the necessary preventive measures at our plant "Opole" in Vladimir region. The farm, where the outbreak of FMD was recorded, supplied about 6-7 tons of milk daily, in total the a plant of the holding company "Opolie" processes 220-230 tons of milk per day. The milk comes mainly from Vladimir region, a small part from Ivanovo region", - explained Marina Zibareva, Director of communications, PepsiCo.

CONSEQUENCES

The Ministry of agriculture has stated that it sees no need for a ban on the transportation of dairy products from the Vladimir region.

The most significant problem for the Russian side in this situation was a blow to the international status. Belarus and Kazakhstan, the nearest neighbors of the Russian Federation (the Republic of Belarus – partly, from the region, Kazakhstan - completely, from Russia) banned the import of meat and dairy products. The outbreak has temporarily deprived Russia of its status of country, free from FMD.

"Unfortunately, this outbreak will suspend the status of Russia as the area free from FMD without vaccination, but it is temporary, until the data on the elimination of outbreaks and implementation of all anti-epidemic measures is provided," - said the Rosselkhoznadzor.

Note that shortly after receiving this status, a number of Asian countries promised to speed up the access of the Russian meat products to their markets. At present such a possibility most likely eliminates all expectations of exporters.

Read full article in Russian on DairyNews.ru