I wanted to provide an update on AASV activities regarding African swine fever (ASF). New outbreaks of ASF continue to be reported in China. In addition, Bulgaria and Belgium have reported their first outbreaks of the disease. The United States swine industry continues to monitor the situation closely and is focusing on efforts to prevent the introduction of the virus into the US herd.

Dr Tom Burkgren and I, along with representatives from the National Pork Board, the National Pork Producers Council, and the Swine Health Information Center, met with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials on September 5, 2018 to discuss ASF prevention concerns. Although the meeting focused mainly on prevention, discussion topics also included diagnostic testing, surveillance, feed and feed ingredient issues, garbage feeding controls, and monitoring the importation of pork casings. In summary, the prevention issues discussed were:

Communication

• The USDA is scheduling biweekly calls for updates and discussion of ASF-related issues.
• The USDA has set up a website dedicated to ASF at www.aphis.usda.gov/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/swine-health and will update the website as the situation evolves.

Waste feeding and the Swine Health Protection Act

• The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has had controls in place for decades on international garbage, including food waste from ships, airlines and international conveyances. These controls require all international garbage to be disposed of appropriately and under APHIS supervision, for example, garbage transported under seal to approved incineration facilities.
• The authority to ban the feeding of plate waste containing meat is under the regulatory oversight of individual states, not with USDA.
• The USDA will assess what needs to be done, if anything, to improve inspection of licensed waste-feeding facilities and enforcement on unlicensed facilities.

Importing meat products

• Import restrictions imposed by APHIS prohibit the entry of untreated animal products, including meat and meat products, from countries or regions considered affected with certain diseases. Fresh and frozen pork is prohibited from regions affected with ASF, classical swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, or swine vesicular disease, while meat that has been cooked is allowed under APHIS regulations.
• The European Union is transparent in their review and zoning of the current ASF situation.
• Members of APHIS are in regular contact with the European Union about current zoning status.
• Safe trade in meat and meat products around the world is built on the understanding that government veterinary authorities in the product country of origin inspect and certify those products in accordance with the requirements of the country of destination. Imposing additional requirements, such as testing products for viruses after arrival in the country of destination, destroys the credibility of the certification system and leads to consequences of reciprocal testing of US exports.

Swine casings

• Swine casings that originate from ASF-positive countries or regions are prohibited entry into the United States under APHIS regulations.
• Entry of Chinese-origin swine casings was denied by APHIS when ASF was found in China.
• Current APHIS regulations allow US-origin swine casings to be processed in ASF-affected countries or regions under certain conditions. With strong support of the casings industry, APHIS is working to review the processing of US-origin swine casings in Chinese facilities.
• Casings are shipped with a 6-week transit time to and from facilities in saturated brine solutions that will inactivate foreign animal disease (FAD) viruses as referenced in the World Organization for Animal Health’s guidelines.

Testing imported feed and feed ingredients

• Both USDA and FDA identified many concerns and potential consequences that could arise from testing imported feed and feed ingredients.
• Both USDA and FDA believe there are currently many unknowns and data gaps that should be identified to help define or validate feed risk. In the absence of information regarding the predictive ability of unvalidated test results to accurately determine the potential risk associated with feed, the design and implementation of a testing strategy is not feasible.
• There are significant logistics issues, including whether a validated test and a validated sampling method exist, who does the sampling, who pays for the testing, who pays for storage or demurrage charges while product is held, that would present challenges.
• Testing could bring potential consequences that must be considered such as false interpretation of results, the different industries that could be impacted by testing as some ingredients are shared between the human and animal food streams, and the impact on US exports if additional testing requirements are imposed.
• Without further information and because of recognized data gaps, a government testing program is not feasible currently.
• Both USDA and FDA continue to work with industry representatives to assess the potential risk of non-animal origin feed ingredients to US agriculture and the feed supply.
• The National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) will issue a guidance to the veterinary diagnostic labs advising them to not do unofficial FAD testing.

Other key discussion points

• The pork industry will need to work with the feed industry and other affiliated industries to develop programs to address feed safety. Both APHIS and FDA are willing to help with these discussions and processes.
• The FDA is willing to facilitate expedited regulatory review with any sponsor submitting a possible mitigation product that can be added to feed that may help address the animal health concerns associated with FAD transmission.
• The USDA has asked US Customs and Border Protection to target inspections of passengers and cargo coming from ASF-positive regions.
• The USDA is on heightened alert for illegal pork products in non-traditional markets.

In addition, we also discussed concerns with diagnostic capabilities including sample validation and lab capacity issues. Currently, the only sample type approved for use by the NAHLN labs is whole blood. Whole blood was chosen due to the virus’ predilection for macrophages, but it is not a sample routinely collected by swine veterinarians. The USDA indicated that tonsil would be approved for the NAHLN labs by the end of September and oral fluids sometime in 2019. Following approval, tonsil will be validated for both classical swine fever and African swine fever at the diagnostic labs. You should ensure that tonsil is included with all laboratory submissions. The AASV developed a brochure on tonsil collection and submission entitled “Got Tonsil”. The brochure can be ordered from the AASV office (aasv@aasv.org) or downloaded from the AASV website at www.aasv.org/aasv/documents/GotTonsil.pdf. We are also encouraging USDA to evaluate and validate lungs and spleen, as these are common diagnostic tissues submitted by swine veterinarians.

Diagnostic and private labs are considering requests to test feed and feed ingredients for ASF. Given there are no validated tests or sampling methodologies for feed and considering the severe consequences of a false-positive finding, USDA will not allow non-official ASF testing at the NAHLN laboratories.

To address potential sources of infection, the four industry organizations are encouraging producers and veterinarians to interact with their feed and feed-ingredient suppliers on issues associated with the importation of products which may pose a heightened risk of disease exposure. To facilitate this interaction, the group has published a list of questions for producers and veterinarians to pose to their suppliers. A link to this list can be found on the AASV website at www.pork.org/news/pork-industry-focuses-feed-ingredients-combat-african-swine-fever-threat/.

The group also compiled a list of frequently asked questions regarding the role of USDA and FDA in ASF prevention. That list is posted on the AASV website at www.aasv.org/documents/ASFFAQ91018.pdf. We will continue to keep our members informed as these interactions proceed. Please feel free contact me with any questions.

Harry Snelson, DVM
Director of Communications