Steve’s Livestock Transport out of Blumenort, Manitoba, says it’s complying with new requirements for swine transport vehicles returning from U.S. farms to be washed in the United States while continuing to lobby for reinstatement of a program that allowed washing at Canadian facilities.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has ended a program which had allowed swine transport vehicles retuning from U.S. farms to be washed and disinfected at Canadian wash facilities and as of May 2 is requiring those transports to be washed at U.S. facilities before returning to Canada.
The emergency transportation protocol, in place since February, 2014, was implemented to reduce the risk of bringing the virus responsible for PED into Canada.
Rick Peters, the Vice President Operations with Steve’s Livestock Transport, says, to defend against PED, Canadian truck wash facilities have heightened biosecurity, added the use of disinfectants to their protocols, installed baking bays, added undercarriage washes and stepped up training of wash facility personnel.
I think they’ve been very effective. Western Canada has seen five out of the 110 or so cases of the PED virus in Canada. That all while transporting, exporting the largest number of feeder pigs into the U.S.
Western Canada exports a large number and predominantly through the Manitoba port. It illustrates how well we’ve done at keeping it out of the western Canadian industry. ~ Rick Peters – Steve’s Livestock Transport
Peters notes CFIA requirements for washing trailers returning from U.S. farms at wash facilities in the United States had not been enforced in the 22 years he’s been involved in the swine industry and those requirements don’t apply to trucks returning from U.S. slaughter plants which pose a far greater risk of exposure to disease.
He says Steve’s livestock will comply with the requirements to wash and disinfect in the U.S. while continuing to lobby to have those requirements changed and will re-wash once those trailers have returned to Canada.
