How safe are hog farms?
Swine flu has sent chills through the Canadian pork industry, as countries have started banning imports of pork products.
At least 10 countries stopped importing Canadian pork products after the H1N1 virus was found in hogs at a central Alberta farm, apparently passed from a carpenter who returned from Mexico in mid-April feeling ill. China is refusing pork only from Alberta.
| Global pork production |
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| The United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (October 2008) predicts world pork production will rise by 1 per cent, to 97.9 million tons in 2009. China is the world's biggest pork producer with about half that total. China also consumes more pork than any other country. Global pork production has increased by nearly 50 per cent since 1990. The world's largest pork exporters are the EU, the United States, Canada, Brazil, China and Chile. |
"Virtually two out of every three hogs that are produced in Canada are either exported live or in the form of pork. It doesn't take a lot to figure out that if all the borders were to close we'd have a massive problem very quickly," Canadian Pork Council president Jurgen Preugschas told CBC Newsworld.
Preugschas says the pork industry generates about $7.7 billion in economic activity and provides some 42,000 jobs. Even before H1N1 was found on the Alberta farm, swine flu fears had already hurt hog prices.
The message from the Canadian government, pork producers and the World Health Organization has been steadfast: pork is safe to eat.
"China is operating outside of sound science," Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told the House of Commons on May 4, adding that the government is considering a World Trade Organization challenge.
Rules at hog farms
But how safe are Canada's hog farms?
Cate Dewey, a professor of swine health management and epidemiology at the University of Guelph, says Canada has a very healthy pig population thanks to the strict biosecurity regulations in place.
The federal government, through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), watches over hog farms with an on-farm food safety system called Canadian Quality Assurance, or CQA.
Over 90 per cent of hog farms in Canada are approved under the CQA program, which was set up in 1998 to monitor all stages of the producer-to-consumer chain.
As part of the program, producers have to work with an industry expert — such as a government official or veterinarian — to make sure they comply with strict biosecurity rules to prevent the transfer of swine diseases.
"The main ways that viruses and bacteria and things we don't want on the farm will come is on boots, the tires, mud from one farm to another that gets transported using the trucks," said Morgan Radford, a technical issues analyst with the Canadian Pork Council. "So producers are really trying to set up an area where you're keeping anything that could be harmful out of barns."
Measures include keeping a log book of all visitors to the barn, changing into different clothes upon entering the barn and waiting 48 to 72 hours before visiting another hog farm. Even rodent control is monitored for fear of spread of diseases from outside animals.
"Typically when you go into a barn you would take your street clothes off, shower in, put your barn clothes on, walk around and look at the pigs and then you would shower back out of the barn," said Dewey.
Dewey says she and many visitors also tend to don masks in hog barns to prevent the spread of respiratory diseases such as the H1N1 influenza.
Because hog barns tend to be closed units, unlike cattle farms where the animals roam outside, it's easier to prevent the spread of disease between barns from visitors and other animals.
Many farmers also restrict their purchases of extra animals to several other farms, while some won't even allow outside hogs through their doors, instead using artificial insemination to add new genes to the pool.
In light of the swine flu, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has asked producers and veterinarians to ramp up their biosecurity measures. The list of dos and don'ts includes the following:
- Anyone with signs of respiratory illness should avoid contact with animals.
- Visitors should increase the wait time between entering different barns.
- Veterinarians are asked to use N95 masks and other protective gear.
The federal government announced in late March that it has set aside $40 million to further strengthen biosecurity on hog farms by creating a national biosecurity standard and researching emerging diseases. The decision was sparked by a costly outbreak of porcine circovirus in 2004 and 2005.