‘Send in the army’ say Italian ham producers as prosciutto pigs face wild boar fever threat
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/04/27/prosciutto-production-threatened-italy-boars-swine-fever/
by TheTelegraph
‘Send in the army’ say Italian ham producers as prosciutto pigs face wild boar fever threat
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/04/27/prosciutto-production-threatened-italy-boars-swine-fever/
by TheTelegraph
24 comments
**From The Telegraph’s Nick Squires:**
Italy’s iconic prosciutto ham is under grave threat from burgeoning numbers of wild boar infected with swine fever, and the army should be drafted in to eradicate them, producers say.
The number of wild boar infected with African swine fever (ASF) is on the rise across Italy and threatens to have a devastating impact on one of the country’s most celebrated gastronomic products, which is worth 1.7 billion euros (£1.4bn) in consumer sales.
“There’s no time to lose,” said Stefano Fanti, the director of the Prosciutto Consortium of Parma, the city famed for its cured ham and other meat products.
“We need to step things up – we need to bring in the army against the wild boar, to increase funding for biosecurity, traps and fences and to have more hunters,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.
“We need to be clear – what is happening needs to be treated as an emergency, otherwise we won’t manage to overcome it. People are really worried about swine fever. If it passes from wild boar to our pigs, we will be forced to slaughter thousands of them and that will mean that prices for consumers will go up.”
# Exports at risk
There have been 150 cases of swine fever found in wild boar so far in Emilia Romagna, the northern region where prosciutto is produced.
Special restrictions have been introduced in some areas which mean that producers can no longer export to countries like Canada, which have strict rules on the import of food products from regions where swine fever has been detected.
“There have been efforts to contain contagion from wild boar but they have been insufficient to resolve the problem,” said Mr Fanti.
There are around two million wild boar in Italy, according to farmers’ organisation Coldiretti.
Italy’s iconic prosciutto ham is under grave threat from burgeoning numbers of wild boar infected with swine fever, and the army should be drafted in to eradicate them, producers say.
The number of wild boar infected with African swine fever (ASF) is on the rise across Italy and threatens to have a devastating impact on one of the country’s most celebrated gastronomic products, which is worth 1.7 billion euros (£1.4bn) in consumer sales.
“There’s no time to lose,” said Stefano Fanti, the director of the Prosciutto Consortium of Parma, the city famed for its cured ham and other meat products.
“We need to step things up – we need to bring in the army against the wild boar, to increase funding for biosecurity, traps and fences and to have more hunters,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.
“We need to be clear – what is happening needs to be treated as an emergency, otherwise we won’t manage to overcome it. People are really worried about swine fever. If it passes from wild boar to our pigs, we will be forced to slaughter thousands of them and that will mean that prices for consumers will go up.”
# Exports at risk
There have been 150 cases of swine fever found in wild boar so far in Emilia Romagna, the northern region where prosciutto is produced.
Special restrictions have been introduced in some areas which mean that producers can no longer export to countries like Canada, which have strict rules on the import of food products from regions where swine fever has been detected.
“There have been efforts to contain contagion from wild boar but they have been insufficient to resolve the problem,” said Mr Fanti.
There are around two million wild boar in Italy, according to farmers’ organisation Coldiretti.
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[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/04/27/prosciutto-production-threatened-italy-boars-swine-fever/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/04/27/prosciutto-production-threatened-italy-boars-swine-fever/)
<La questione non riguarda tanto la salubrità dei salumi, visto che il virus non si trasmette all’uomo, ma l’intera filiera, che vedrebbe crollare le esportazioni oltre a un danno di immagine incalcolabile.>
The problem is obviously not about the infection, which is irrelevant for humans and is practically impossible to pass to pigs in sheds as it involve only wildlife. The problem is: bad advertisement and image damage. I see the telegraph already started.
I rarely agree with agri-political figures that typically push for anti-economic narrations and push for autarchy. So thank you telegraph, you managed to have me agree with these shithead.
I’m sorry but it’s a very funny thought to have the Italian army digging trenches around pig farms to protect the porkers.
Nato level shi
Wild hogs are an absolute scourge of the Earth and getting rid of them has proven nigh imposssible at least in America. The Italians face a real possibility to join the Aussies in losing a war to an animal.
Ah yes, the great Italian wild boar war of 2024
Mmm, maybe I can get the Regione to pay for my hunting license…
We can thank the local version of PETA for years of dangerous and blind opposition to any policy of population control for those horrible pests known as wild boars.
“ohhh poor things! They’re cute and harm nobody! They’re just living their life” and assorted crap to guilt people into ignoring the issue.
Then you have boars roaming the streets of cities, miles away from the woods, looking for food, rummaging in dumpsters or even breaking into backyards etc.
The swine flu is just the cherry on top of the shitty cake.
Maybe call Obelix instead.
Turns out the americans were right. We DO need to protect our kids from 40-50 wild hogs in our backyard.
Prosciutto vs hairy prosciutto
LIke guys, it’s a business opportunity. You literally kill pigs and make them into delicious for a living.
Coming to Wikipedia: The Italian Prosciutto War.
I’m married to an Italian and even lived there but now in America and have a few (a lot) friends that hunt and hunt pigs can we come?
So wait, the boars swim over from Africa to propage the virus?
The Italian army is typically weak. Send the navy.
Denmark: well well well…. Who’s laughing at our pig fence now
[Finally a war we are prepared for!](https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/19/army-tank-accidentally-blows-up-a-chicken-coop-in-italy)
Wolves do a great job of controlling boar populations
>The grey wolf is the main predator of wild boar throughout most of its range. A single wolf can kill around 50 to 80 boars of differing ages in one year. In Italy and Belarus’ Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, boars are the wolf’s primary prey, despite an abundance of alternative, less powerful ungulates. Wolves are particularly threatening during the winter, when deep snow impedes the boars’ movements. In the Baltic regions, heavy snowfall can allow wolves to eliminate boars from an area almost completely. Wolves primarily target piglets and subadults and only rarely attack adult sows. Adult males are usually avoided entirely.
Prob bird flu
African swine flu is no joking matter.
It decimated hundred of thousands of pigs in Romania,it had become illegal to sell/buy live pigs from the countryside without veterinary approval
Thirteen battles at the Isonzo should end the threat once and for all
Now here’s a war I can get behind.
Istrians laughing like Mr. Burns right now