The Veterinary Counsel with the Canadian Pork Council suggests understanding the risks of disease transmission and developing simple mitigation strategies is critical.
As part of research being conducted on behalf of Swine Innovation Porc Canadian scientists, swine health officials and manufacturers are working to speed up and improve the effectiveness of the cleaning and disinfection of swine transport trailers.
Dr. Egan Brockhoff, the Veterinary Counsel with the Canadian Pork Council and a member of the Truck Wash and Biosecurity Project Advisory Group, says our understanding of the risk factors that move disease around the country and across continents has grown and grown.
A lot of this research really stems from work done earlier in the United States by Dr. Scott Dee on the movement of PRRS virus through transports that weren’t being washed properly. That really took hold and really resonated with pork producers and veterinarians across Canada and transporters. Then, with the introduction of PED virus into North American in 2013, it became absolutely critical that we continue to move forward in understanding how to decontaminate trailers, better ways to monitor and track trailers and better ways to reduce the risk to a farm.
Through those critical times in PED, a number of things came out, certain things like access to high quality truck washes, access to thermal assist drying and then eventually baking all became a part of the conversation. Then ultimately things like trailer traceability, the ability to monitor trailers and see where they’re going, the ability to wash them effectively while you’re knowing where they’re going all became part of this larger circle to put everything together.
~ Dr. Egan Brockhoff, Canadian Pork Council
Dr. Brockhoff notes whether we’re transporting feedstuffs, livestock, materials or people there is a risk of introducing disease.
He says finding simple effective ways to mitigate that risk is critical because if things are too complex, or cumbersome producers and transporters won’t want to do them.
