A $613,050 investment by the governments of British Columbia and Canada is resulting in increased surveillance and preventative measures to stop livestock diseases from spreading to B.C., federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and B.C. Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick announced today.

The funding provided to the BC Pork Producers Association results in immediate action to reduce the risk of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) arriving in B.C., and prepare measures to rapidly respond and contain the disease if it should ever enter the province.

The immediate action includes:

• Implementing enhanced biosecurity efforts at the two facilities that handle pigs from within and from outside B.C., including livestock transport trucks and driver-sanitation measures.
• Two pork processing facilities and 21 pork-producing farms will be supported in developing response and containment plans to ensure rapid action should PED be found. In addition, enhanced auditing and application of national standards for on-farm biosecurity will be supported.
• The industry will cost-share any activities that include the purchase of equipment and/or costs for infrastructure associated with enhancing biosecurity.

PED is an extremely infectious and economically devastating pig disease that is new to Canada.  The disease can be transmitted through animal feces among vehicles or equipment, and though harmless to people, results in a very high mortality in young piglets. To date, PED has not been found in B.C.

Testing for PED is conducted at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Animal Health Centre. The centre receives more than 5,000 animal samples of all varieties for diagnosis annually and is one of only three Canadian labs accredited as a veterinary diagnostic laboratory by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.

Last month the Province passed a new Animal Health Act, updating nearly 70-year-old legislation, aimed at limiting the spread of current and emerging diseases like PED, and better responding to potentially disastrous outbreaks.

The funding announced today is from the five-year Growing Forward 2 agreement, a $3-billion federal-provincial-territorial government investment in innovation, competitiveness and market development.

Quotes:

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz -

“Vigilance towards PED is key to reducing its impact on the Canadian agricultural sector and the economy as a whole. This investment will provide the B.C. Pork Producers Association with the tools and resources it needs to support producers and processors in improving biosecurity.”

Minister of Agriculture Norm Letnick -

“Reducing the risk of PED becoming established in B.C. is important to the sustainability of our province’s pork sector, and this plan delivers key surveillance and preventative action. The B.C. government recently passed a new Animal Health Act that greatly improves disease management and monitoring in B.C., and furthers the reputation and consumer trust that B.C. pork producers have earned locally and in growing markets around the world.”

BC Pork Producers Association president Jack Dewit -

“The Province acted quickly to assist BC Pork Producers in their efforts to keep PED out of our province, and should we have an outbreak, to contain it. The health of our animals is absolutely paramount to B.C. pork producers, and these surveillance and preventative measures really help reduce the chances of PED arriving and spreading in our province. Some U.S. farmers have been devastated by the outbreak of PED in their states, so B.C. producers clearly recognize the value of the on-the-ground action and response plans this funding brings to us.”

Learn More:

B.C. announces updated Animal Health Act to deal with modern animal health risks: http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2014/03/animal-health-act-updated-to-deal-with-modern-animal-health-risks.html

Information on Ministry of Agriculture’s Animal Health Centre:
http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2014/03/bc-animal-health-centre-expertise-endorsed.html

Media Contacts:

Dave Townsend
Government Communications and Public Engagement
Ministry of Agriculture
250 356-7098
250 889-5945 (cell)

Jeff English
Director of Communications
Office of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz
613 773-1059