A leading Norfolk pig farmer has urged the government to take "more robust action" at borders to stop the deadly African swine fever (ASF) reaching UK shores.

Although ASF doesn’t affect humans, it is a highly contagious and fatal disease among pigs, which are a key sector in East Anglia's farming economy.

Rob Mutimer, who farms at Swannington near Reepham, is also chairman of the National Pig Association (NPA).

He has written to Defra secretary Thérèse Coffey asking for "decisive action" to install "proper protections at our borders" as the devastating virus spreads in continental Europe, with new cases recently confirmed in wild boar in Sweden and in commercial pigs in northern Italy.

It follows a delay in the introduction of the government's Border Target Operating Model, which aims to balance the need for effective border controls with simplified import processes for supply chain businesses.

"The government’s own assessment of the threat of ASF, and its potentially devastating impact on British pig farming, could not be clearer," said Mr Mutimer.

"We do understand the need to protect supply chains and shelter people from further inflationary pressures. However, a better balance needs to be struck that prioritises Britain’s biosecurity and protects our own food producers and our self-sufficiency."

Mr Mutimer welcomed measures introduced last September to limit non-commercial imports of pork and the work that has been done by the government to raise awareness of the disease.

"However, the continued delay to checks on goods moving from the EU to Great Britain leaves us exposed to ASF as it continues its relentless spread across Europe," he added.

The government's latest document on the Border Target Operating Model acknowledges an ASF outbreak would be "a fundamental threat to the viability of our pig industry".

It says recent routine inspections of UK retailers detected frozen and raw imported meat products marked clearly as suitable only for sale in the originating country - adding that these goods would not have made it to the UK if sanitary and phytosanitary controls had been in place.

"Although the products didn’t test positive for ASF on this occasion the very fact that these products reached the UK presents a serious and immediate threat to the UK pig industry," says the report.

The draft model was originally published in April 2023, but following industry feedback the implementation was pushed back, from January 2024 onwards, "to give businesses more time to prepare".