Denmark’s pig research center VSP and national feed association Dakofo have agreed to recommend that porcine blood plasma is phased out as an ingredient in Danish pig feeds during 2015, to rule out any possibility that it could introduce porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus.
Their recommendation follows a report from the European Food Safety Agency on the prevalence of PED virus in the European Union and other parts of the world. According to this report, highly efficient spray drying of the blood plasma should inactivate any traces of PED virus present in it. However, the agency points to variations in the spray drying process and suggests that PED virus infection being transmitted through blood plasma cannot be excluded, even if such occurrences are extremely rare.
As from next year, say the Danes, the only use of porcine blood plasma in pig feeds should be where the farmer considers it essential for the intestinal health of his weaned pigs and where the plasma has been spray-dried in accordance with EU rules on imports from third countries -- meaning the process is carried out at a temperature of at least 80 C and there have been a minimum of six weeks of storage at no more than 8 percent humidity.
