The spread of African swine fever (ASF) closer to the UK has sparked fresh calls for proper border checks on imported pigmeat to be brought into place.
The confirmed case of ASF in late May on a domestic pig farm in the south west of Germany is a short distance from the French border.
Of notable concern is that the latest case is more than 500km away from other outbreaks, suggesting that the disease has been transported.
The lethal swine disease is highly contagious, and any incursion into the UK would likely devastate the national pig herd.
Farming groups have frequently requested that the disease threat from ASF be raised from ‘moderate’ to ‘high’, and fresh calls have now been made.
Speaking about the heightened risk, NFU Scotland said the government "should be doing everything within its powers to keep it out".
However, the union slammed plans to postpone proper border checks on food entering the UK from Europe until the end of 2023 as ‘utter madness’.
NFU Scotland pigs working group chair, Jamie Wyllie said: “The government continues to leave pig producers exposed to ASF a disease that would wipe out our pig production were contaminated pork products to arrive on our shores.
"We are on record calling for the threat from ASF to be raised from ‘moderate’ to ‘high’ and for UK retailers to seriously reconsider where in Europe they are choosing to import pork from."
Farming groups say checks are crucial to the nation's biosecurity, animal health and food safety, without them farmers are left at risk.
The UK government recently postponed introducing proper Border checks on goods entering the UK from the EU for a fourth time.
For the beleaguered pig sector, the lack of checks at the border on EU pork imports presents a risk to the health and welfare of the pig herd.
The latest German outbreak, which has 'jumped' 500km from known disease cases in wild boar, shows how easily the disease can be spread.
Likely to have happened through movement of humans, pigs or food rather than wildlife, the case highlights how easily ASF could enter the UK without checks in place.
Looking to curb the potential for the disease to be introduced, the Scottish government recently introduced sniffer dogs trained to detect illegal meat at some ports, airports and parcel hubs.
"These dogs have demonstrated that there are significant quantities of illegal meat coming into the country by these routes," Mr Wyllie noted.
"We remind everyone that even small parcels for meat imported in this manner and for personal consumption are an unacceptable risk and are illegal.”
