Page 12 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Page 12 – Australian Pork Newspaper, October 2019
www.porknews.com.au
Roundtable bolsters ASF preparedness and response actions
AUSTRALIA’S prepar- edness for African swine fever has been bolstered through a roundtable of industry leaders, scien- tists and governments that discussed the ac- tions needed to keep Af- rican swine fever out of Australia.
Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie called the meeting so industry, scientists and govern- ments could make sure Australia was taking all appropriate actions to keep the disease out, had plans to eradicate it quick- ly if it were to arrive and could play a role in sup- porting international food security.
“This disease is highly contagious, spreads rap- idly, there’s no cure or vaccine, it kills about 80 percent of pigs it infects and looks like one in four of the world’s pigs will be wiped out by the end of the year,” Minister Mc- Kenzie said.
“Our first priority is to keep it out of Australia but we also need to make
sure we are prepared in case it does arrive – after all, about 15 percent of the product we’ve confiscated at the border has tested positive.
“The Australian Gov- ernment is playing its part, industry is aware and watchful and we need the community to take this seriously and do the right thing.
“What I heard at the roundtable was the need for more forums like this where all parties can come together, test our respective systems and share perspectives and knowledge.
“There was a lot of goodwill and consensus around the need to im- prove communication not just between governments and industry – like those represented recently, Australian Pork Limited, MLA, Sheep Produc- ers Australia, Australian Meat Industry Council, Stockfeed Manufacturers and Grain Growers – but also with the whole com- munity.
“I’ve asked my depart- ment to actively engage with international student associations and tour operators to make sure the message is getting through to people in Afri- can swine fever countries – don’t bring pork prod- ucts in through the airport or the mail.
“We’re also increasing the testing of the con- fiscated pork we seize through our mail centres and airports, and I’ll be sharing those results with industry as soon as I have them.
“We’ll be holding a simulation exercise later this year to test our dis- ease response capabili- ties to make sure we’re as prepared as we can be – should the unthinkable happen.
The exercise will in- volve all those with a stake including state and territory departments, the pork industry and Animal Health Australia.”
Australian Pork Lim- ited’s chief executive Margo Andrae said the Australian pork industry was an important contrib- utor to rural and regional economies, providing 36,000 jobs and is worth $5.3 billion to the Austral- ian economy.
“Our industry is very proactive in managing biosecurity risks and to- day is an important re- minder that whether you have a pet pig or 10,000 pigs, you have a respon- sibility,” Ms Andrae said.
“Most importantly, this devastating disease doesn’t affect people and isn’t in Australia so all Australians can continue to enjoy pork and pork products.”
Minister McKenzie said it was important to remember that African swine fever wasn’t just a threat to Australia; in some countries it was having disastrous con- sequences and causing social and economic im- pacts.
“China says it will have a 10 million tonne pork deficit this year – that is more than the total amount of pork traded in- ternationally each year,” Minister McKenzie said.
“Some Chinese con- sumers will be looking to substitute pork with other meats like poultry, beef and lamb but China has said it will struggle to fill the gap with domestically produced meat.
“China is already a sig- nificant market for Aus- tralian beef and lamb, so we’re well placed to sup- port Chinese consumers’ access to safe, high-qual- ity protein.
“And while we don’t have direct market access for poultry and pork, we can expect those countries that do will be sending product to China.
“That may present an opportunity for our pro- ducers to ‘backfill’ in other markets so Chinese consumers can continue to access the protein they want.”
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