Page 13 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Boehringer Ingelheim hosts biennial FLEX Event
THE national eco- nomic impact from an African swine fever incursion in Australia has been estimated to be up to $2.03 billion for a larger, multi- point impact over five years.
APL CEO Margo An- drae said while there has been a significant increase in virus detec- tion at our borders in recent months, it is cru- cial all participants in Australia’s biosecurity system play their part in managing the threat.
“The threat of in- cursion from African swine fever is not one we can take lightly,” Ms Andrae said.
“Not only is our pork
supply at stake but the jobs of 36,000 Austral- ians are at risk.
The latest testing figures released by Australian Border Se- curity found 48 per- cent of pork products seized at airports and in international mail during September 2019 were contami- nated with fragments of the virus.
This was in addition to three samples that contained foot and mouth disease frag- ments, and which were immediately destroyed.
“Just recently, a sec- ond individual was de- ported and their Aus- tralian visa was can- celled at Sydney Air-
port when they failed to declare they were carrying pork products from Vietnam,” Ms An- drae said.
“This is a clear signal to future travellers that Australia is taking this issue very seriously and I implore travellers to adhere to our laws.
“We are fully com- mitted to working with the Australian Govern- ment to keep Australia free of ASF, maintain- ing our premium prod- uct status.”
The APL-funded ACIL Allen report de- tailing the impacts of an ASF outbreak in Australia is now avail- able at australianpork. com.au
IN October 2019, the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine team held the second biennial FLEX Event at the Gold Coast.
There were over 80 at- tendees from the Austral- ian swine industry made up of both producers and veterinarians.
This year’s FLEX 360 Event focused on in- troducing the whole herd health approach to Boehringer’s customers.
The Boehringer Ingel- heim team presented on a range of topics including the impact of biosecurity and environmental sci- ence on whole herd health
and production systems. Guest speaker Gus Bal- bontin, the ex-executive director and CTO of Lonely Planet, conclud- ed the daytime event by discussing how to unlock agility and adaptability in your business to suc- ceed in a challenging and
rapidly changing market. Gus got many of our customers excited to think about innovation in
the swine industry.
Also at the event, the
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Acad- emy was unveiled to Boehringer’s swine cus- tomers with three Af- rican swine fever bio- security modules avail- able at launch.
These educational mod- ules are part of a suite of six, with the remain- ing three being rolled out
later this year.
They are aimed at help-
ing farm workers and their managers to look at different aspects of bio- security that can affect their ASF risk.
In the evening, custom- ers were given a network- ing opportunity at a pool- side dinner, where there were food stalls with flavours from around the world as well as a band and entertainers.
The FLEX 360 Event was a successful continu- ation from the first event in 2017, and the feedback has been extremely posi- tive from participants.
Prepare now to save our bacon
MINISTER for Agri- cultural Industry De- velopment and Fisheries Mark Furner is praising the pork industry for its preparations for a possi- ble incursion of African swine fever in Australia or Queensland.
“During November we met for the second time with the African Swine Fever–Queens- land Awareness and Ac- tion Forum members to review our preparedness effort,” Mr Furner said.
“I first met with the fo- rum members in October when I committed to con- tinuing engagement on this emergent and critical biosecurity threat.
“To date, we have pro- vided Queensland veteri- narians, pig owners, pig farm workers, feral pig hunters, industry and the general community with information about Afri- can swine fever, the risks of introduction and how they can help prevent it as part of our shared ap- proach to preparedness.
“All pig owners, wheth- er they are commercial farmers, hobby farmers, pet owners or those who come into contact with pigs, including feral pigs, must also play their part.
“Pig owners must be registered as a biosecurity entity, which helps Bio- security Queensland re- spond in the event of an emergency animal, pest or disease incident.”
Producers can check their contact and regis- www.porknews.com.au
tration details are up to date at qld.gov.au/Bios- ecurityRegistration
The Queensland Gov- ernment has rapidly scaled up its efforts in- cluding:
• Increased education and awareness across potential pathways of in- troduction such as food outlets that may give left- overs to pig owners, peo- ple buying pork products from overseas and feral pig hunters who might see something unusual;
• Enhancing laboratory diagnostic capacity;
• Supporting industry to boost biosecurity meas- ures; and
• Providing more than 4000 registered bio- security entities in Queensland that keep at least one pig with infor- mation about prevention and preparedness.
Mr Furner said the greatest risk was from people illegally bringing pork or pork products into Australia from over- seas and these being fed to or eaten by pigs.
“Recent detections of African swine fever vi- rus fragments in meat confiscated at Australian airports and mail centres highlight the serious risk of entry through pas- senger movements and mail,” he said.
“I urge everyone to make sure they know what can and can’t be brought into Australia and comply with these requirements.
“While prevention is the key, we have to be ready in the event this disease does arrive.
“In its most severe form, up to 100 percent of pigs may be affected and die.
“It’s estimated that by the end of 2019 up to a quarter of the world’s pigs may be lost as a re- sult of this disease.
“No treatment or vac-
cine is available, so if Af- rican swine fever became established in Queens- land, it would be very difficult to eradicate.”
Find out more at qld.gov. au/AfricanSwineFever or contact the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries on 13 25 23, or listen to the podcast at daf.qld.gov. au/news-media/podcasts/ africanswinefever

African swine fever would cost Aus $2 billion: APL

Australian Pork Newspaper, December 2019 – Page 13