For the swine plague, the Cinta Senese Piglet is at risk of extinction

Cinta Senese piglet at risk of extinction due to African Swine Fever. The alarm was raised by the Cinta Senese PDO protection consortium itself after the first culls of heads took place in recent days. The first outbreak in a Tuscan farm was identified in Comano, in the province of Massa-Carrara, while in recent days two pigs found dead in a farm in San Marcello Piteglio, in the province of Pistoia, tested positive for the virus.

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In recent days about 300 heads have been culled, about 10% of a stock that is about 3,000 heads in total.

The Cinta Senese piglet is raised mainly in free-range or semi-free-range conditions, a fundamental characteristic for the quality of its meat but which makes the heads particularly exposed to infection, whose main vehicle is represented by wild boars.

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“We are facing a real danger,” commented the president of the Cinta Senese PDO Consortium, Nicolò Savigni. “Farmers have strengthened internal biosecurity, also thanks to the contributions received, but outside the company boundaries the risk remains beyond their control. They cannot be left alone: every Cinta Senese farm must be considered a post to defend.”

The Cinta Senese PDO Protection Consortium therefore asks the Tuscany Region, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, and the Extraordinary Commissioner for African Swine Fever to intervene with concrete and immediate actions to protect the Cinta Senese PDO system involving 79 farmers, 6 slaughterhouses and 18 processing companies, for an indicative economic value of 5.5 million euros.

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