By Bruce Cochrane.
The Director of Swine Health Programs with the National Pork Board says the implementation guide for a new foreign animal disease response program will be available to U.S. pork producers by the end of this year.
The U.S. pork industry's Secure Pork Supply Plan for Continuity of Business was discussed last week as part of World Pork Expo in Des Moines.
The goal of the program is to provide a vehicle which, in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak, would ensure producers in affected areas who's farms are free of infection have the information necessary to provide to state animal health officials.
Dr. Patrick Webb, the Director of Swine Health Programs with the National Pork Board, says, by participating in the program, the hope is that producers will be able to respond much more quickly.
Dr. Patrick Webb-National Pork Board:
When you look at the continuum of how we respond, we have plans for responding, how to detect, how to contain.
What was missing and what we're working on are these business continuity components.
If I'm a producer, I'm located in an area that has stop movements because of Foot and Moth Disease, what can I do, what can I share with my animal health official to demonstrate I'm different and that's what pork Secure Pork Supply is.
It's a way for a producer prior to an outbreak to put in measures and verify those measures with their state animal health officials that, in the event of a foreign animal disease, would demonstrate that they have preharvest traceability in place, the biosecurity component is in place, the disease surveillance component is in place and the ability to share that producer information that the state vet would need to see to in order to determine whether or not they can be permitted for movement.
This program is entirely voluntary and producers are encouraged to enroll into the program when the enrollment period comes, which we're hoping by next summer.
We'll have an implementation guide finished by the end of this year so producers have an idea of what they need to get prepared for enrolment.
It provides an opportunity to do those things before we're ready for actually getting people into the program.
Producers can learn more about the Secure Pork Program by visiting securepork.org.
Source Farmscape