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In Italy pig industry is one of the most important sector in livestock husbandry, also as a consequence of the economic value of by-product production. Pig farming is mainly concentrated in Northern Regions where, over the past decade a significant increase in pig population has occurred. In the remaining Regions pig farming is less specialized and it is characterized by small-scale holdings mainly for self-consumption or for small-scale trade. The presence of different pig farming systems determine the coexistence of different: management systems, production scales, health and bio-security standards, market requirements and production costs; all these factors are considered relevant for diseases spreading. Theoretically the application of rigorous prevention measures (bio-security) may modulate the risk of disease diffusion but, data emerged during the surveillance and eradication campaigns, indicate that the bio-security measures applied are too weak to guarantee the status of the entire system. This inconvenience could be overcome throughout the assignment of different levels of risk, to be established throughout the collection of objective parameters on the holding. Trade between farms of the same level of risk and same health standard could guarantee the status of the entire sector and safeguard the economic and market requirements of the different production systems.