China announced Saturday it was banning imports of pork products from Germany after the European country confirmed its first case of African swine fever.

Germany is Europe's biggest pork producer and recently saw a surge in demand from China after it suffered an outbreak of the same disease.

Scientists detected swine fever in a dead wild boar in the eastern state of Brandenburg, the German agricultural ministry said on Thursday.

Authorities had been concerned about the disease crossing into the country from neighbouring Poland after a spate of cases were detected there last year.

China responded to the news by forbidding the import of all pig products and will return or destroy any products that have already shipped, a joint statement from the country's customs agency and agriculture ministry said.

African swine fever is deadly among wild boars and domestic pigs, and highly contagious, but not harmful to humans.

Chinese authorities have been looking into a means of preventing African swine fever, with a vaccine under trial.

An outbreak of the disease in China last year saw millions of pigs slaughtered to prevent an epidemic.

Pork prices more than doubled last year as a result of the crisis, which also pushed up the cost of eggs and other meats as consumers switched to other protein sources.

Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Generation Z isn't all that into lab-grown meat, according to new study
Washington DC (UPI) Sep 08, 2020
All kinds of stakeholders, from environmental activists to venture capitalists, are counting on the growth of the cultured meat market. But new research suggests one of the most important consumer cohorts, Generation Z, isn't ready to eat meat grown from animal cells in a lab. The 2 billion people born between 1995 and 2005 are members of Generation Z, and if businesses are to survive longterm, they must market and sell to them. For cultured meat companies marketers, members of Generatio ... read more