Page 16 - Australian Pork Newspaper

UV light shows promise in mitigation of costly swine virus
FMT launches world’s first industrial cultured meat production facility
FUTURE Meat Technologies, an in- dustry-leading com- pany developing in- novative technology to produce cultured meat, has opened the world’s first indus- trial cultured meat facility.
cultured meat can reach cost parity faster than the market anticipated, this pro- duction facility is the real game-changer.”
With the capability to produce 500kg of cultured products a day, equivalent to 5000 hamburgers, this facility makes scal- able cell-based meat production a reality.
“This facility dem- onstrates our propri- etary media rejuve- nation technology in scale, allowing us to reach production den- sities 10-times higher than the industrial standard.
Future Meat Tech- nologies chief ex- ecutive officer Rom Kshuk said, “This fa- cility opening marks a huge step in Fu- ture Meat Technolo- gies’ path to market, serving as a critical enabler to bring our products to shelves by 2022.”
“Our goal is to make cultured meat afford- able for everyone, while ensuring we produce delicious food that is both healthy and sustain- able, helping to secure the future of coming generations.”
“Having a running industrial line accel- erates key processes such as regulation and product development.”
The facility further supports Future Meat Technologies larger efforts to create a more sustainable fu- ture.
Currently, the fa- cility can produce cultured chicken, pork and lamb, without the use of animal serum or genetic modifica- tion – non-GMO – with the production of beef coming soon.
The company’s pro- duction process is expected to generate 80 percent less green- house emissions and use 99 percent less land and 96 percent less freshwater than traditional meat pro- duction.
Future Meat Tech- nologies unique plat- form enables fast pro- duction cycles, about 20-times faster than traditional animal ag- riculture.
Future Meat Tech- nologies aims to reach shelves in the US in 2022 and is currently in the process of ap- proving its production facility with regula- tory agencies in mul- tiple territories.
Future Meat Tech- nologies founder and chief scientific officer Professor Yaakov Nahmias said, “After demonstrating that
The company is eyeing several loca- tions in the US for its projected expansion.
First appeared in Global Ag Media
THAT is the indication given by research con- ducted at Iowa State University regarding the use of ultraviolet light as a means of stopping the transmission of the virus that causes porcine reproductive and respira- tory syndrome, a costly swine disease that can spread through the air.
main in the air for days and can travel for miles on air currents, making it a difficult virus to contain.
Ultraviolet light has been shown to irradiate and scramble the RNA of some bacteria, and Koziel wondered if similar tech- nology could address viral aerosols.
volved aerosolising sam- ples of live viruses and then pumping the air through glass tubes that allow ultraviolet light to pass through.
the study has been shown to be less harmful.
Laboratory experiments showed that the radiation caused by some kinds of UV light kills the viral particles contained in aer- osolised droplets, and the researchers hope to scale up their tests to show how their approach could work on a farm.
“UV has been used to kill bacteria in the food in- dustry in many instances.
The three forms of ul- traviolet light analysed in the study included con- ventional ultraviolet light, known as UV-C – light from novel excimer lamps that produce light with es- pecially short wavelengths – and UV-A light, some- times referred to as near- visible black light.
Prof Zimmerman said ultraviolet light might offer pork producers and veterinarians a new tool for disease prevention or reduction.
PRRS is an infectious swine disease that cost US pork producers around $A788 million in 2016.
Professor of agricul- tural and biosystems en- gineering, Jacek Koziel has studied the benefits of using ultraviolet light – a spectrum of light with wavelengths that are too short for the human eye to detect – to eliminate dust and odour-causing particles associated with livestock production.
Prof Koziel is collabo- rating with Jeff Zim- merman, professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medi- cine, who has worked ex- tensively with PRRS and other aerosolised viruses.
Both the conventional and excimer UV light demonstrated an ability to inactivate the virus and show promise as potential avenues to fight PRRS.
“It’s very costly to imple- ment, and then there are ongoing maintenance con- cerns with making sure the buildings are airtight,” Prof Zimmerman said.
The virus spreads either by direct contact between pigs or by viral droplets carried in the air.
The research team ran experiments in a Sukup Hall laboratory, exposing the virus to three kinds of ultraviolet light.
Exposure to ultraviolet light can pose a risk for people and pigs, but the excimer light involved in
“The filters themselves are expensive and filter maintenance is not cheap.
These droplets can re-
The experiments in-
A sow infected with PRRS is less likely to carry offspring to term, and young pigs affected by the disease suffer res- piratory distress that slows their growth and makes them more susceptible to other diseases.
“Conventional UV is known to be bactericidal,” Prof Koziel said.
The researchers then measured how much virus survived exposure to the light.
The black light, which has been shown to be helpful in tamping down odour-causing gases, did not have a significant ef- fect on the PRRS virus, according to the research. Testing on a larger scale
Some pork producers in- stall costly air filtration systems in their barns to mitigate spread, but ISU researchers are looking for less expensive approaches.
“The same mechanism is actually beneficial to kill the virus.”
Lab results
Some farmers install expansive ventilation sys- tems in their barns to keep aerosolised viruses out of their operations, but those measures come with a hefty price tag.
Prof Zimmerman said ultraviolet light might offer pork producers and veterinarians a new tool for disease pre- vention or reduction. Photo: Rich Smith
The research was funded by the US National Pork Board.
“Ultraviolet fixtures could offer greater flex- ibility.”
The researchers hope to scale up their research to test the concepts under conditions that mimic a swine facility more closely.
Prof Koziel envisions a system where ultraviolet lamps are installed near ventilation intakes to make sure air that enters the area doesn’t carry aerosolised virus.
Prof Zimmerman said he expects interest to be high among pork producers if the team can demonstrate that the approach works as well in a barn as it does in a laboratory.
Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor
It is the responsibility of those making submissions to ensure the correctness of their claims and statements. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.
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HAVING spent many hours trying to trace the whereabouts of the NSW pork producers ‘swine compensation fund’, I can report the following – despite no assistance from the very people who claim to be there for the industry.
until the early 1970s, when the levies were cancelled due to the fund deemed capable of supporting pro- ducers with funds held.
disease outbreak, the gov- ernment will continue to provide appropriate com- pensation.”
were quoted in parliament – from $1.2 million to $1.8 million.
After 35 years, the amount would be nearly $18 million in today’s money and growing rap- idly – all of it pig pro- ducers’ money.
clarity, especially with the ever-present threat of Af- rican swine fever.
What this means for NSW pig producers is that our money is now legally placed into consolidated revenue for the NSW Gov- ernment... forever.
All government bodies contacted had no idea and no recollection, as all cur- rent employees weren’t alive when the Greiner Government ‘confiscated’ the funds in 1988.
The last expenditure from the fund I recall was to build the boar test sta- tion at Wacol research sta- tion in the Hunter Valley in the mid 1980s.
Now is the time for
Interest from the fund was used for various pur- poses, in particular to support research done by Dr Ted Batterham at Wol- longbar.
“As such this sum of money constitutes par- tial compensation for the government underwriting any future loss from swine fever and is in considera- tion for the abolition of the levy on the industry.”
The question asked by Jack Hallam quotes $1.5 million, so being in the middle of the two figures, let’s calculate that with in- terest and inflation, which would double that amount every 10 years.
When will the NSW Government begin to use their own money for the proposed compensation?
A final fact... on De- cember 10, 2008, the NSW Government repealed the Swine Compensation Act 1928 without consultation whatsoever with anyone in the NSW pig industry that I can find.
Unless the promise made in 1999 is honoured, NSW pig producers have been hit with a ‘special’ tax. Neil Unger
‘Confiscated’ is the term used in parliament when Jack Hallam asked about the fund.
The funds then sat idle until set upon by a cash strapped Greiner Govern- ment in 1989.
This promise seems to have been forgotten or altered in present day agreements, where NSW pig producers are still ex- pected to fully cover their own contributions to any disease outbreak.
In my search, I must ac- knowledge the support of all the ex-piggery officers from the old NSW Depart- ment of Agriculture – in particular Anne Mabey without whose support the evidence of the fund’s ex- istence would have never been found.
He took the funds with a promise to “support” NSW pig producers in the event of an exotic disease out- break.
Back in 1990, this was promised to have been to- tally covered by the NSW Government – parlia- ment.nsw.gov.au/search/ pages/hansard-results. aspx?k=13%20June%20 1990
The results are as fol- lows.
That promise was con- firmed by a reply in NSW Parliament on June 13, 1990 when the Hon Robert Baron Rowland Smith said, “The transfer [swine compensation funds] was conditional on the govern- ment’s undertaking that in the event of a future
I ask all in positions of influence today to inves- tigate exactly where NSW pig producers stand in light of this promise.
The fund was established in 1929 and continued a levy on all pigs slaughtered
The actual amount held in the fund is hard to de- fine as various amounts
The promise to support NSW pig producers in the event of an exotic disease outbreak was confirmed by a reply in NSW Parliament on June 13, 1990 by the Hon Robert Baron Rowland Smith.
Page 16 – Australian Pork Newspaper, August 2021
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