Swine Fever Is Threatening Your Prosciutto

One of Giovanni Airoli's sows tested positive for African swine fever in late August. Within a week, all 6,200 sows, piglets, and fattening pigs on his farm south of Milan were slaughtered under strict protocols to halt the disease threatening Italy's $20 billion prosciutto, cured sausage, and pork industry. Since swine fever appeared on the peninsula in January 2022, Italy has killed nearly 120,000 pigs—three-quarters of those over the past two months alone, reports the AP. "It's a desolation," Airoli said outside his farm in the northern Lombardy region that is ground zero for Italy's swine fever epidemic. No one is allowed in and out except for employees, and then under strict hygiene protocols that require clean coveralls and boots for use only inside the premises.

"It happened to us despite applying all of the safety measures required. There was obviously a failure," Airoli said. The area of greatest concern, where the disease has been confirmed in domestic pigs, extends nearly 1,740 square miles and includes neighboring Piedmont and Emilia Romagna, a region world renowned for its prized Parma prosciutto. The impact of the swine fever outbreak goes further. Farmers in the 8,880-square mile area also face restrictions due to infected wild boars. The disease, which is nearly always fatal to swine, first infected wild boars and quickly spread to domestic pigs, which number 10 million in Italy.

Coldiretti, Italy's agricultural lobby group, estimates damage to the industry so far at $554 million, partly due to import bans. The sector generates $22 billion along the supply chain, from farms where the pigs are raised to factories where ham is cured. "The limited availability of fresh pork legs is generating strong production limitations," according to the Parma Prosciutto Consortium, which produces prosciutto. Sergio Visini, who runs the antibiotic-free Piggly farm in Lombardy, is strict about sanitization. But, he says, "This outbreak can also turn into an opportunity to improve animal health and welfare." (More here.)