June 10, 2010

US pork producers discuss animal disease procedures

 

National Pork Board officials, veterinarians, pork producers, emergency responders and government officials came together to discuss emergency preparedness, policies and procedures to follow in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak in the US.

Foreign animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) pose significant threats to the entire US pork industry. "Foreign animal diseases are highly contagious. They have the ability to spread rapidly, there would be a large percentage of our herd affected by it and, if diagnosed, we could immediately lose our ability to export US pork," said Patrick Webb, DVM, NPB director of swine health programmes.

Rapid diagnosis, containment and control are essential in the face of such a potentially catastrophic event.

"We want producers to contact their veterinarians if they see any symptoms that are out of the ordinary on animals, such as blisters on the nose and feet," said Webb.

Premises identification records, pre-harvest traceability and the pork industry's national surveillance plan are crucial factors in responding to a potential outbreak. Cooperation of producers also is essential.

Quarantine zone management, disease containment, euthanasia methods, identification of carcass burial zones, composting and DNR regulations were all discussed in the exercise. The industry must have detailed plans for topics including halting animal movement, zone identification and humane euthanasia.

"It is only through conversation and training such as this event today that we are able to hope to be prepared for coping with a foreign animal disease crisis in the future," said Chris Novak, NPB chief executive officer.

Everyone witnessed the negative impact H1N1 had on the public, foreign markets, packers as well as producers in the past year. "Obviously, that episode would pale in comparison to a disease diagnosis such as of FMD should it occur in our country," said Novak.

Tim Bierman, a Larrabee, Iowa, pork producer and NPB president has participated in a number of the drills. "The pork checkoff provided this drill to help all pork producers understand the important role for producers in being prepared and knowing how to respond in the event of a foreign-animal disease outbreak such as FMD," he said.