Britain’s pork producers have shown the extent of their determination to keep out porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus, in remarks at the 2014 British Pig and Poultry Fair.
Continuing freedom from PED virus is a great selling point for exports of British breeding pigs as well as of pork, industry sources pointed out at the show, given that herds in a number of rival countries are being hit by the emerging ‘hot’ form of the virus.
Producer representatives in Britain have started meeting government agencies with the aim of formulating a national plan by mid-year to tackle the PED virus threat.
At pig industry development organization BPEX, the decision has been taken to begin acting immediately on a number of strong recommendations that include improving biosecurity, contingency planning and increased communications about disease risk.
This follows a recent disease-risk roundtable conference at which BPEX and the national council on pig health and welfare shared views with government experts and veterinarians over the most appropriate steps to take.
