March 3, 2014
The pork industry in Quebec, Canada may incur losses of up to CAD40 million (US$36 million) in the first year brought about by the infection of porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED).
CDPQ, the Swine Development and Innovation Centre in Quebec, in partnership with the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Quebec's Swine Health Advisory Board and Quebec's Pork Producers Council has conducted a risk analysis of PED in Quebec, developed strategies to minimise those risks and identify potential costs.
The analysis which was conducted in response to a new infection circulating through the US identified nine key risks including trucks coming from and going to the US, importation of live animals from the US or other provinces, cull animals going to the US and the barns where that are assembled, importation of semen from the US and feed.
Christian Klopsenstein, a veterinarian responsible for swine health management with CDPQ, notes a simulation of the spread of PED in Quebec assumed a similar spread as that which occurred in the US.
Since the PED is mainly affecting piglets, there's a delay of 200 to 250 days between the first appearance of clinical signs in sow units and a real impact you can measure in terms of pigs that are being slaughtered so it clearly showed the impact it could have in Quebec if it came in in the same way it came into the US.
Klopsenstein said they are not 100% sure that Canada will be hit as hard or we hope that Canada is not going to be hit as hard as the US has been.
When the simulation was made, they assumed they could be hit as hard as the US has been and, if the hit was as hard as in the US it could cost them CAD40 million in the first year after the first case has been reported.