The US authority APHIS  (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) announced on 23 August the publication in the Federal Register of the proposed amendment to recognize free status from Swine Vesicular Disease (SVD) of Italy including the regions of Tuscany and Umbria ( Federal Register: Swine Vesicular Disease Status of the Regions of Tuscany and Umbria, Italy ).

The good news comes after a particularly long and complex process, for which the Directorate-General for Animal Health and Veterinary Medicine and the Embassy of Italy in Washington have collaborated for a long time in recent years.

The US procedure now foreseen that until 23 October 2023 (60 days in total) any interested American citizen can freely consult the dossier submitted by Italy on the MVS and send their comments for a subsequent evaluation by APHIS, with publication of a final notice in the Federal Register.

This is certainly a positive step forward for the progress of the Italian dossier, which leaves hope for the growth of exports of this sector, which is strategic for our country. In fact, as we read from the document "APHIS has established that the surveillance, prevention, and control measures implemented by Italy are sufficient to minimize the likelihood of introducing MVS in the United States through the importation of species or products sensitive to these diseases".

Please note that the entire Italian territory was officially recognized free from MVS under European law in March 2019.

Swine Vesicular Disease

Source: Ministry of Health