The Canadian pork sector is encouraging Canadian Border Services to get more detector dogs and to provide more information to travellers about the risks of bringing meat into the country.

African Swine Fever continues to spread in Europe, it’s in Russia, it’s moved into China and is getting closer to other southeast Asian countries. It’s in Belgium and Poland, and it’s moving closer to France and Germany.

Dr. Egan Brockhoff, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with Prairie Swine Health Services said the virus is getting close to borders but also found at airports meaning it’s moving everywhere. The pork sector is engaging with the CFIA and with the Canadian Border Services Agency to drill down and highlight the critical importance of border biosecurity.

“We’re encouraging Canadian Border Services agencies to get more detector dogs. We want those dogs at the border. We want more dogs at the border,” said Dr. Brockhoff. “We want travellers to receive information when they get on their airplane before they land in Canada that, if carrying meat products, they need to dispose of them on the airplane. They shouldn’t be bringing them but if they are bringing them, don’t take them off the plane.”

Hog commentator Jim Long while not a veterinarian but does business in many of the countries mentioned, travels extensively, gave his observations.

“Russia got African Swine Fever (ASF) in the mid-2000s dealing with it for over ten years. It is still there, there are still breaks, and it hangs over the industry,” said Long. “We have been doing business in Russia since 2006, so many of these are first-hand observations.

He said most Russian commercial farms have set-ups for biosecurity at levels that surpass most of the world. These usually include double fenced facilities, controlled gate entry, fulltime 24 hours per day security guards.

“Some double showers – shower then shower again before entry to barns, minimum two nights downtimes for barns. No food brought to the farm by employees, food prepared by the company, and serve no pork on the farm,” said Long. emphatically. “Almost all feed is bulk and pelleted from their own feed mills, tire rinse facilities at the entry to the farm site. A large land base which has farms not real close to each other.”

The farms slaughter many hogs at their facilities with virtually no small pig commerce-industry 99 per cent farrow to finish complete ownership and all commercial pigs raised in indoor confinement.

Long said despite all these protocols and efforts there are still African Swine Fever breaks in Russia.

“You can minimize it but so far impossible to eliminate.” The hog commentator said in Russia ASF caused consolidation of the swine industry. More extensive operations with multiple farms could assume a risk of a break; banks are wary of one owner operations and their ability to withstand losing the total herd and having the barn sit empty for a minimum of a 6-months before repopulation.

“There is much talk of Russia becoming self-sufficient in pork. Sometimes we’re not sure what that means, but we observe the expansion of Russia’s industry despite profits of over $50 per head average for the last few years slowed by ASF and its risk,” said Long. “In Ukraine for example, which got ASF recently we saw 15 — 20 per cent of its herd decreased due to ASF and economic implications of the disease which include; bankers, disease itself and surge of pigs on the market.”

He said many new rules in Russia regarding bio-security and food safety had squeezed small producers and in some areas, eliminating them favouring consolidation.

“The actual dead pigs from ASF in Russia over the last ten years we estimate at two to three million. In the same time probably 20 to 30 million pigs died from Prrs throughout Russia,” said Long. “The main threat of ASF are the implications of it due to its status as a reportable disease and all the crap that comes with that.” •

— By Harry Siemens