Alarm in the world capital of ham: Following the detection of two cases in wild boars, the return of the

Spanish pork producers, famous for crafting the most valued hams in the world, are currently on alert. This is because the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of that country confirmed the detection of two positive cases of African swine fever (ASF) in wild boars, after 31 years without the disease. Although the European Union has been battling it since 2014, the year it entered the Baltic countries and Poland from Russia, Spain was not part of the list of 13 countries that have it. These are Italy, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia. Belgium, Sweden, and the Czech Republic were left out, which managed to eradicate it after applying strict control measures. The cases were confirmed by the Central Veterinary Laboratory of Algete (Madrid), from two animals found dead in the town of Bellaterra, last November 26. The news activated the protocol of operations against ASF, which includes the ...