The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) organized Biosecurity in the face of foreign animal disease – what the feed industry needs to know” on January 31st during the 2020 International Production and Processing Expo. Presentations included biosecurity for feed mills producing swine, beef and poultry feed with specific reference to foreign animal diseases. 

Dr. Paul Davis, Director for Quality, Animal Food Safety and Education for AFIA stated “after today I think all attendees may feel a little better about how to prepare themselves for a foreign animal disease outbreak.”  He added “with African swine fever continuing to make headlines across the globe it's important for the protein sector to work together to practice good by security”.

Dr. Cassie Jones Associate Professor at Kansas State University commented “we know that we have risks, but the goal for feed security is to create hurdles to make it harder for the disease to spread.” 

Recent studies have confirmed that African swine fever can be transmitted in contaminated ingredients and PED was probably introduced to the U.S. on feed bags imported from China. The role of feed delivery in dissemination of catastrophic viruses was demonstrated in the 1984 outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Pennsylvania and in subsequent outbreaks in 2015.