Britain lifts blanket ban on Spanish pork imports, adopts regional controls

LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday it would allow pork imports from parts of Spain unaffected by African swine fever (ASF), reversing a blanket ban imposed last week after the country reported its first cases of the disease in more than three decades.

The move aligns Britain with the European Union's regionalisation approach, which restricts trade only from outbreak zones.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) said imports from the Barcelona area would remain suspended, while pork from other regions could resume.

"Following an outbreak of African swine fever in Spain, all fresh pork and other impacted products from the region affected are restricted," a Defra spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement.

It said that "exports from disease-free areas of Spain can continue as normal", adding that they would continue to monitor the situation.

Spain confirmed nine ASF infections in wild boar near Barcelona, prompting emergency measures in Catalonia, a region central to pig farming. The virus does not affect humans but is fatal to pigs and has no vaccine or cure.

Spain is the EU's largest pork producer and a major supplier to Britain, shipping 37,600 tonnes of pork so far this year worth over 112 million euros ($130 million).

The decision comes after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged Britain and other trading partners to continue buying from regions outside the containment zone.

Spain resumed shipments to China from unaffected regions earlier this week after Beijing narrowed its restrictions to Catalonia.

Other countries including Mexico and Canada have yet to adopt the same approach as the EU and Britain, and they continue to block pork from across Spain, Spanish officials said.

A task force of EU vets began work in Barcelona on Tuesday to help contain the outbreak.

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti and Nigel Hunt; Editing by Catarina Demony)