The constant vigilance of livestock farmers and their simultaneous cooperation with the Veterinary services of Grevena, Kozani, Kastoria and Florina was requested by the Deputy Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Christos Kellas during his extraordinary meeting with breeders in Grevena, on the occasion of the outbreak of plague in sheep in the area of ​​Kalambaka.

Mr. Kellas, in the context of the immediate measures taken by the State, informed the breeders that three protection zones have been identified: The first zone is limited to three kilometers from the location of the case, the second surveillance zone is located within a radius of 10 kilometers from the disputed area and the third zone up to 20 kilometers, which reaches the area of ​​Deskati Grevena. He called on the breeders to observe all the protection measures recommended by the veterinary services and determined by the protocols available to the ministry and which have been validated by the competent bodies for monitoring the spread of zoonotic diseases of the European Commission.

The plague of small ruminants virus was detected for the first time in Greece in sheep and goats in the area of ​​Kalambaka with the cases having reached three in specific units of the area. As announced, the sick animals are led to the slaughter and then they are landfilled. The rest of the animals in the unit that have not fallen ill can be consumed by humans, after the meat has first undergone heat treatment for preventive reasons. And milk can be consumed after high pasteurization at 72 degrees Celsius.

The General Secretary of the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food, Giorgos Stratakos, developed the operational plan of the ministry to the livestock farmers, asking for the faithful implementation of all health protection protocols, in order to isolate the cases. The sheep plague virus is a zoonosis that lives in the atmosphere for 72 hours, is spread from animal to animal, but can be spread outside the unit through the transfer of milk. As he said “an area is free of the plague virus when 30 days have passed since the appearance of the last case”.

As he explained, the goal that has been set is “by mid-Autumn, when the first lambs of sheep and goats will arrive, for the virus to have disappeared from the units in the area. If this is not done successfully then there will be losses in livestock.”

Some of the farmers who were spoken to said that from their past experiences with other diseases, dairies and cheese factories refused to receive milk from units located in the first three-kilometer protection zone from the spread of the virus, citing the high cost, both in the sterilization of the barrels, as well as in the pasteurization of the milk and they asked for guarantees from the side of the government regarding its disposal. Cattle breeder Dimitris Moschos from Kastoria, whose farm was awarded by the EU as the best organic farm in Europe, called for the experience of the coronavirus to be used in terms of the sterilization conditions of the milk transport drums entering the surveillance zones and pointed out that a concentration of undistributed milk is beginning to be observed in the farms of the breeders located in the disputed areas of Kalambaka, when the specific units currently produce about 50 tons per day.

Intervening the deputy minister, the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food Christos Kellas stated that “so far there are no such issues, but when they arise we will deal with them”.