April 11, 2007

Bio-security and mycotoxins challenge Vietnam's swine industry
 

Vietnam's growing swine industry faces two major challenges--controlling mycotoxins and enforcing adequate bio-security regulations industry-wide.

These two issues were clearly highlighted at the recent Impextraco Bio-security and Mycotoxin Seminar in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where speakers addressed an audience of industry participants on various pertinent aspects.

To develop a viable bio-security strategy, producers need to identify risks and prioritise measures to deal with the most critical ones first. The next step is to explore available options to minimise those risks, such as quarantine or restrictions over intra- and inter-farm movement of animals or people.

Finally, strict adherence to bio-security requirements is crucial in preventing disease from striking herds and developing into an outbreak.

Being a factor in rendering vaccines ineffective, mycotoxins including aflatoxin, ochratoxin or fumonisins are a pain to hog producers since they weaken piglet immunity to pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, as recent research has shown.

In particular, some major mycotoxins affecting Vietnamese farms have also shown resistance to conventional mycotoxin binders in practice, even when the treatments delivered favourable laboratory results. Multiple solutions or strategies are needed to deal with different mycotoxins.