Biosecurity: Swine Industry

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African Swine Fever (ASF) is one of the deadliest animal diseases in modern agriculture.  

It is a highly contagious viral disease, with a mortality rate of 95 - 100% in both domestic and wild swine.  There are no known vaccines and cures.  It has wiped out nearly 25% of the global swine population in 2018-2019.  It has wiped out many small producers, increased consumer food prices and reduced calorie intake of impacted countries.  With no vaccine and cure, ASF continues to be a threat to global food security and human well-being. 

Although there are no recorded cases in the US, the consensus is when, not whether, there will be an ASF outbreak in the US.  An Iowa State University study estimated that the US swine industry could lose more USD 75 billion in value over 10 years in the event of such an outbreak. 

Other animal protein industries face the same challenges, with Foot Mouth Disease and Avian Flu being constant threats to the cattle and poultry industries respectively.

A US-SHIP (Swine Health Improvement Plan) pilot validated LSMS™ CleanTrailer in helping to achieve biosecurity compliance objectives such as ensuring all trailers returning from terminal points were sanitised, and that such sanitation treatment were traceable, transparent and performed to standard.  

Extracts from the report include:

• " Taking of the pictures ensured trailers were clean, found areas dirty that were not always caught before the app. "
• " Aids in managing labor – measuring cleanliness & efficiency of each crew. "
• " Trailer-related data is the most accurate for verifying washing status. "
• " CleanTrailer had a high agreement with GPS and provided unique benefits (pictures). "