Feed Remains Top of Mind Concern for Introduction of Foreign Animal Disease

Farmscape for October 22, 2021

The Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center says the possible introduction of a foreign animal disease through feed remains a top-of-mind concern for the pork sector.
A just completed year long analysis, conducted on behalf of the Pork Checkoff and the Swine Health Information Center by EpiX Analytics to identify U.S. pork industry gaps in biosecurity defenses against foreign animal diseases, found no major areas have been overlooked but reinforced the importance of continued on-farm biosecurity diligence.
SHIC Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says one thing that was identified as a real potential risk is the introduction of contaminated feed products, not so much because it's the most likely risk but rather because it's one that acts as a direct pipeline to our pigs.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:
If a contaminated feed product comes in, which again is probably one of the lesser risks but it's still there, it's very real, if it comes in feed, it will be fed to pigs and that will cause an infection.
So, the actionables are to look at all of these different types of pathways that they have identified and to try to bolster those that have less controls over them.
One of the examples of feed ingredients, there's different voluntary programs within the U.S. about how to handle feed and feed components that are imported but there's really not any consolidated way to do that.
Certainly, there’s not any regulatory way to do that.
We're looking at voluntary industry programs that may consolidate, may capture all of those different things that are happening out in the countryside with the hope that doing so will give some uniformity to those types of programs and that uniformity will lead to more effectiveness.

Dr. Sundberg suggests we're better now than we were but we're not as good as we're going to be and the actionable is continued improvement.
For more visit swinehealth.org or Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

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