Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2024 to Question 10798 on African Swine Fever, what uncertainty is there around the human mediated pathways for African swine fever.

Defra and its agencies regularly review the spread of ASF when new outbreaks occur internationally and publishes risk assessments on GOV.UK at: African swine fever in pigs and wild boars in Europe - GOV.UK.

Since the latest risk assessment of July 2024, the risk of ASF entering Great Britain through a human-mediated pathway is considered to be high, though there is considerable uncertainty around this, particularly around the illegal movement of pig products from regions of the EU affected by ASF. Defra and its agencies keep this under regular review and will reassess the risk level and corresponding controls as further information becomes available.