The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the pork industry are launching a compartment program to deal with any outbreak of African Swine Fever.
It will establish heightened biosecurity around pig populations to contain any outbreak.
It is designed to assure trading partners that Canada has an outbreak under control. It is in addition to a zoning protocol that geographically divides the country into regions that remain free of the disease so exports from those regions can continue.
It is one piece of a bigger program called the African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program which has $23.4 million available to provinces, territories and academic institutions, associations and Indigenos groups. It is, in turn, part of an international program to contain and prevent spread of the disease.
In August the Manitoba Pork Council got $944,450 under this program.
It is using that money to “enhance efforts to control wild pigs in the province, develop an integrated response plan that focuses on animal welfare, disease response and sector recovery, and encourage the adoption of best management practices to improve biosecurity measures through targeted awareness campaigns.”
The CFIA said about the new compartment program that “a compartment or part of a compartment can be present within an infected zone.
“It is the biosecurity and surveillance practices of the compartment that maintain the ASF-free status of the pigs within the compartment, not the location of the premises.
“This makes continued trade of pigs and pork products from a compartment free of ASF theoretically possible even when a premises is located within an infected zone.”
"The Canadian pork industry is unwavering in its dedication to the health of our swine herds and the prosperity of our industry. The Canadian ASF Compartment Program offers a robust tool to manage ASF risks, ensuring our continued success in the global market," said René Roy, Chairman of the Canadian Pork Council.
"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is taking every precaution to protect swine herds and the pork industry from African swine fever,” said Dr Harpreet Kochhar, president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
”The Canadian ASF Compartment Program underscores our commitment to proactive biosecurity and disease management and strengthens Canada's position as a global leader in swine health."
The CFIA sets national standards and provincial governments and members of the Canadian Pork Council handle administration.
Biosecurity and traceability programs are key elements of the program.
