Dear readers,
We always provide some good news related to the swine industry:
- The Czech Republic is once again officially a country free of African swine fever (ASF), after three years. The implicated authorities of the Czech Republic managed to eradicate this dangerous disease in the wild boar population for the second time in a relatively short period of time.
- In the U.S. Italian style meat brand Charcuterie Artisans has added Iowa prosciutto producer La Quercia Cured Meats to its portfolio. Already the parent company of Creminelli, Daniele, and Del Duca, Charcuterie Artisans is the largest premium domestic charcuterie manufacturer. The buyer is planning a 50% capacity expansion, along with strategic modernization focusing the plant entirely on prosciutto production.
- Smithfield Foods will acquire Nathan’s Famous in a $450 million deal. Smithfield has held an exclusive license to make and sell Nathan’s Famous products in North America, but the license is scheduled to expire in March 2032. Nathan’s Famous began in 1916 as a hot dog stand in Coney Island, home to its annual July 4 hot-dog eating contest that has amplified the brand’s notoriety among the American public.
- Tropical Cheese Industries, a leading U.S. producer of Latin American-style dairy products, has acquired New Jersey’s Cibao Meat Products, which manufactures Dominican and other sausage varieties.
Just for fun:
- “Can anyone help? My father is old. I’m afraid he can’t handle these pigs!” appealed a young woman on the Chinese TikTok, Douyin, where she promised that anyone who helps her father slaughtering two pigs, will be rewarded with a feast. In the rural areas of Sichuan and Chongqing provinces , large-scale feasts are an important part of the culture, where twice-cooked pork, steamed ribs, soup, and homemade drinks are consumed. The post generated more than a million likes. on the post. On the planed day thousands of cars and far more people showed up. More than 100,000 people watched the pig slaughter and the feast that followed live online, and the broadcast received 20 million likes. The local government tried to intervene, donating more pigs to meet demand, and local small restaurants served visitors outdoors. Do we fully understand the power of social media?!
Shake the Disease
The ASF is redesigning the map of trading across the pig industry.
Outbreaks ASF among wild boars in Spain are affecting Dutch piglet exports to the Iberian Peninsula The Netherlands exported a total of over 5.6 million piglets in 2025, 4.6% less than in 2024. Spain and Germany were the largest buyers of Dutch piglets in 2025. After the detection of ASF in Spain, In the final weeks of 2025, the flow of Dutch piglets to Spain decreased from over 51,000 piglets to around 30,000 per week. Last year, Spain imported over 2.6 million Dutch piglets. Germany imported over 2.2 million piglets from the Netherlands.
ASF has been detected in the “Vaiņodes bekonas” pig farm with 22,262 domestic pigs in Latvia. The ASF virus was detected through sampling as part of enhanced passive surveillance. The National Veterinary Authority is carrying out the elimination of all pigs in the affected farm, which will last at least two weeks.
Neighboring Lithuania is already taking protective measures, as the farm is only 7 kilometers away from the border.
Approximately 2 years ago we had high hopes related to the 2 ASF vaccines developed and licensed in Vietnam. Since then, not to much appeared about the topic. Even more, ASF continues to spread extensively through the national pig herd of Vietnam. By the end of November 2025, 2,495 outbreaks had been recorded since the start of the year, resulting in the culling of approximately 1.23 million pigs, according to the latest ASF situation update from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Cases had been confirmed in 31 of the country’s 34 provinces and cities. By comparison, just over 1,600 outbreaks were confirmed in 2024.
European farmers are more preoccupied now about the different trade deals. ASF became, somehow, kind of normality. We should use the radical approach of the Belgians and Czechs as a good practice to handle the epidemic. Let’s shake the disease!
