Page 1 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Vol 26. No. 2 February 2022 Australian Pork Newspaper PO Box 162 Wynnum 4178 Phone (07) 3286 1833 Email ben@collins.media
Safe pork supply chain
Point of View
by MARGO ANDRAE CEO
AS this is the first of my columns for 2022, I’d like to begin by wishing you all a happy new year and extending my best wishes for the year ahead – during which I look forward to working on behalf of and closely with many of you.
This year has cer- tainly shown no signs of calming down, with the most obvious issue facing the pork supply chain in January being the Omicron variant.
tors as to the best way to use RATs, with a sur- veillance system on one end of the scale and a more sustainable process of testing when sympto- matic or knowing a close contact on the other.
available on the australi anpork.com.au website.
I’d like to start by ac- knowledging our in- dustry representatives and our state pork organ- isations who have been working diligently to communicate, advocate and support producers.
We should all be using RATs responsibly and mindfully and we con- tinue to call on gov- ernment to share clear guidelines around what that entails for all.
On a lighter note, as you read this, our ‘Get some pork on your fork’ advertising campaign will be live, and we’re excited by the objectives underpinning this cam- paign.
The APL policy team continues to convey to government the urgent workforce issues, the need for consistency across jurisdictions and provision of subsidised rapid antigen tests for agriculture and regional areas.
In addition to vaccines and keeping up to date with new information, this is key to a healthy and sustainable work- force.
Given the current dis- ruptions to the supply chain – both planned and unplanned – our mar- keting team have worked hard to identify how we can segment the group of Australians with the greatest potential to build growth in demand.
To ensure we are doing our part to create an ef- ficient world-leading and safe supply chain, we encourage all producers to monitor health guide- lines and have contingen- cies and COVID-19 safe plans in place to mini- mise impacts.
Herd health continues to be a priority for the Australian pork industry in 2022.
The team have targeted young families with chil- dren and are aiming to equip them with inspira- tion and confidence to cook with pork during the week for easy deli- cious dinners.
As we are encouraging with our team internally, please urge your staff to ensure they are vac- cinated with boosters as soon as they are able.
Maintaining Australia’s African swine fever free status remains front of mind, as we continue un- fortunately to see new cases reported world- wide.
We’ve been encouraged by the preliminary ad- vertising testing results and completely back the expertise of the team to deliver on our goals with this campaign.
We were expecting the supply of RATs to in- crease towards the end of January, and I would encourage businesses review their state gov- ernment websites in case access arrangements are in place.
At the time of writing, ASF had been detected in a surface swab sample collected at a slaugh- terhouse in Thailand, marking the country’s first official confirma- tion of the disease.
I look forward to dis- cussing the outcomes and shifts later in the year.
There has been a lot of discussion in the media and across many sec-
Our team remains fo- cussed on preparedness and there are some great biosecurity resources
In the interim, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us.
Further abroad, northern Italy recorded seven cases of ASF in January.
Regarding all the is- sues covered above, we will regularly update our website with timely spe- cific information for the pork industry.
Papua New Guinea has been battling an African swine fever incursion since March 2020.
Island neighbours funded to fight African swine fever
THE Australian Govern- ment has given Timor- Leste and Papua New Guinea a helping hand in their battle to respond and recover from dev-
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud.
astating African swine fever outbreaks.
an ASF incursion since March 2020.
ASF and other important animal diseases,” Min- ister Littleproud said.
Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia David Littleproud said Timor-Leste had received $180,000 and PNG had re- ceived an extra $205,000 to help combat the effects of the highly contagious virus and mitigate future outbreaks.
“We understand how the animals play a vital cul- tural and economic role in both countries and the serious effects these out- breaks are having on their communities and liveli- hoods.”
“Timor-Leste will use funds to increase linkages between animal health extension officers and farmers and encourage the adoption of ASF-safe pig farming practices.
“African swine fever hit Timor-Leste in September 2019,” Minister Little- proud said.
In Timor-Leste, around 72 percent of urban and rural households keep pigs.
“PNG funds will main- tain essential road check- points, deploy field teams to respond to ASF dis- ease reports and reinforce biosecurity messaging amongst smallholder farmers.”
“Between ASF and se- vere flooding that has blighted the country, Timor-Leste has lost more than 100,000 of its 420,000 pigs.
Around 600,000 house- holds in the PNG high- lands rear about 1.8 mil- lion pigs, producing close to 27,000 tonnes of pig meat annually.
The support is funded under the government’s $58.6 million ASF bio- security response package.
“PNG has been battling
“With Australia’s sup- port, the Timor-Leste and PNG governments can continue the fight against
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