The discovery of African swine fever (ASF) in Sweden has prompted calls for producers and the public to do all they can to prevent the disease reaching the UK.
The arrival of the virus in Sweden is believed to be the first time the country has ever seen the devastating pig disease.
Given the significant distance between the case in Sweden and other cases in Europe, it is thought that humans were responsible for transporting the virus.
This can be done via food, clothing or vehicles rather than being spread by wild boar.
The sector has warned that the disease would have a devastating impact on the UK's pig herd if it were ever to arrive.
NFU Scotland’s pigs committee chair, Jamie Wyllie, said the growing threat of ASF on mainland Europe continued to loom over all pig producers in the UK.
"The impact and severity on our pig herd, were ASF to reach these shores, cannot be underestimated," he warned.
“At farm level, biosecurity remains our first line of defence and producers need to consider who and what they allow on their farm.
"For the public, we urge them to comply with the requirement that no pork products should be brought into the UK for personal consumption.
“And for the UK government, it needs to understand the potential consequences of its lax approach to introducing proper post-Brexit border controls."
News of Sweden's first ever ASF case follows soon after the virus was detected on farms in northern Italy for the first time.
After initially being suspected on 17 August, ASF was confirmed on a small farm in the Pavia province in the pig-dense Lombardy region, where it had already been found in hundreds of wild boar.
It was then confirmed on two more farms close to each other, near Zinasco, in the same province, by the end of August.
There has also been a marked increase in ASF outbreaks in the Balkans, as well as Latvia, Poland, Russia and Ukraine during the months of July and August.
Commenting before the latest outbreaks in Italy and Sweden, APHA said it was "a considerable increase in the range of ASF".
"Initial outbreaks in both countries were reported in domestic pigs, mostly in smallholdings close to borders with known ASF affected countries," the agency said.
"Since then, long distance spread to domestic pigs across Bosnia and Herzegovina has occurred, and ASF-infected wild boar have been detected in Croatia in regions distant to the initial detected infected area."
Mr Wyllie said that without proper Border checks and enforcement, "we have little chance of stopping this disease".
"The UK government still insists ASF is a medium risk when reporting disease but without Border controls and the disease still spreading in Europe, NFU Scotland believes this should be moved to high.”
