2021 Lukluk (VSA) - Magazine - Page 16
The work before the food is on the plate
Samoa. Photo credit: Lauren Griffin
With concerns about the potential
for an outbreak of African Swine
Fever (ASF) in Samoa, the nation
moving into lockdown, and with no
veterinarians available to her team
in 2019, Volunteer Service Abroad’s
assistance came at the perfect
time for Principal Biosecurity,
Officer Talei Fidow-Moors.
Until recently Talei led the
quarantine team for the Samoan
Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries (MAF) - a key part of
protecting the country’s growing
agriculture industry and for
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biosecurity in the Pacific
region, including New Zealand.
Like many Pacific Island nations,
Samoa relies on imported food
products to supplement it’s
own agriculture.
In 2019, Samoa was in the
process of tentatively lifting its
ban on imported pork products.
The ban had been put in place
to protect the Samoan pork
producers from ASF. The disease
had only recently appeared in the
Pacific for the first time, turning