Biosecurity continues to be a focus for Manitoba hog producers, after three cases of PEDv were found in the province in less than a month.
Canadian Pork Council (CPC) chair Rick Bergmann says there is concern that the virus could spread not only within the province, but also throughout the Prairies.
"We are an interlinked country," he says, "so there's transport from Manitoba to Ontario, Manitoba to the rest of the western provinces, and so on, so when one region has a challenge that can be transported, that just heightens the risk level that we're all facing now."
Bergmann says producers across Manitoba and Canada are working diligently on biosecurity, and previous updates from Manitoba Pork state all three infected barns in Manitoba have put biocontainment measures in place. A lot of the concern, however, comes from trucks moving across the U.S. border -- to which Manitoba is a gateway.
"The Emerson crossing on Highway 75 is absolutely a gateway for the transportation of livestock going into the U.S., and also trucks coming back from the U.S., and that's ultimately where the concern lies. There is absolutely heightened awareness, heightened concern in regards to the potential for this virus moving around," Bergmann says.
Both the CPC and Manitoba Pork have been pushing to keep emergency truck washing protocol at the U.S. border. This procedure required transporters to seal trucks at the border, then wash, disinfect, and bake trucks at a wash station once back in Canada.
At the beginning of May, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) removed this protocol, returning to the previous measures that require transporters to disinfect at U.S. wash stations, which use recycled water. While there is concern this recycled water may contain the virus or other bacteria, in a past notice to hog transporters, the CFIA says it has done scientific review, and hasn't found "any evidence that the use of recycled water is a biosecurity risk when all organic matter is removed, followed by a hot water (minimum 60 degrees Celsius) and detergent wash, then an application of an effective disinfectant on clean equipment."
Source : Portageonline