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Emergency animal disease preparation to keep producers and industry safe
WITH so many devas- tating pathogens on our doorstep – such as foot and mouth disease, Af- rican swine fever, avian influenza and many others – it is vital busi- nesses are prepared.
sheep such as AI, ASF, FMD and such?
ited – the Australian certifier to national and international organic cer- tification standards.
pathogens of concern for our business, and list them?
This means not only knowing what to do in an outbreak, but also having the materials and products on hand and ready to go as soon as an emergency is declared.
If you are using a sani- tiser, it may be APVMA approved but that doesn’t mean it’s as effective as a disinfectant.
It isn’t cost effective if it doesn’t fit the above criteria.
If they don’t, then you are using the wrong prod- ucts.
Of course, this doesn’t mean a business should have a stockpile of per- sonal protective equip- ment, disinfectants, hand sanitisers and other ma- terials gathering dust in some remote shed or corner of the warehouse, but rather make a con- scious effort to increase stocks and rotate them, so if there is an emergency animal disease declared, the business has access to additional stocks for in- creased activity in disease prevention.
It doesn’t mean it will kill the pathogens of con- cern for your business. What you should be using
Ask yourself or your pro- curement manager, quality assurance officer, health and safety manager, en- vironmental manager the following questions.
Look to a business that can support you with staff training in chemical handling and safety, dia- grammatic mixing and application, including ‘what to wear’ and ‘how to wear PPE’ posters and complete biosecurity pro- grams.
Many disinfectants are manufactured abroad or use materials from over- seas in their local Aus- tralian manufacture.
Most important is the product being indepen- dently proven effective for porous surfaces, with hard water, low temperatures and most importantly of all of these, in the pres- ence of organic challenge.
As most raw materials are considered dangerous goods, a sudden demand increase cannot be met once local supplies are ex- hausted.
Global acceptability by governments and agencies is a good guide.
Supply chain delays in manufacturing and ship- ping currently run into several months, especially with the reluctance to ship dangerous goods, if the carriers can avoid it.
Don’t believe the sales- person or commercial websites – seek inde- pendent verification, from internationally recognised laboratories, government websites, most university papers and such.
Further to this, there are very few non-DG disinfectants that can be airfreighted to speed up supply and, with expen- sive airfreight these days, expect those additional airfreight charges to be passed on with any mate- rials that are imported.
These days you need environmentally sustain- able products with an ex- ceptional safety profile – chlorine and chlorine- based products do not fit this profile.
This means producers may not have access to the best PPE, disinfect- ants and other required materials and may there- fore have therefore to compromise and use infe- riorgoods,whichmayput their business, staff and the environment at risk.
Safety in use for the en- vironment, animals and personnel will be one less headache in an intense management and super- vision challenge that an emergency animal disease outbreak will cause.
Even more reason to plan and be prepared.
Another consideration is the current demand for staff, which could lead to inexperienced personnel being deployed in these situations, therefore – with all the training and education needs – keeping things safe and simple will help enormously.
For instance, if using an approved disinfectant for your day-to-day activities, vehicle wheel wash, foot dips, cleaning and disin- fecting, will it readily deal with the EADs your busi- ness might be exposed to – pathogens of con- cern for your business be it poultry, pigs, cattle or
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Virkon is the only reg- istered disinfectant with ACO Certification Lim-
Australian Pork Newspaper, August 2022 – Page 11
If what you’re using for your day-to-day disinfec- tion doesn’t deal with the pathogens of concern for your business, you are at serious risk.
Finally, your product of choice should be cost ef- fective.
Do the products we use kill the disease pathogens of business concern?
First of all, whatever you use should be fast acting.
Using a disinfectant that takes considerable time to inactivate pathogens of concern is not going to be effective as it may dry off or wash off before the pathogen has been killed.
What products are we using for disinfection, and list them?
Mike Pritchard Biosecurity Business Manager
Alltech Lienert Aus- tralia
The disinfectant should be fast acting in cold cli- mates as well as warm-al- dehydes do not work well in cold conditions.
What are the disease
It will not be an eradica- tion success if someone loses their sight or re- ceives chemical burns.
Also, looking at the dilu- tion and application rates and not the drum costs, you will be surprised to find that some cheap dis- infectants aren’t actually that economical.
In fact, you are wasting your money and risking your business.
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When an EAD is de- clared, demand for suit- able disinfectants, PPE and other materials in- creases astronomically – potentially several hun- dred percent.
Quality disinfectants can deal with some EAD pathogens in seconds or minutes – Virkon S kills some viruses in less than 15 seconds including avian influenza.
Rural merchandise stores, stockists, whole- salers and manufacturers do not have the stock to cover the sudden increase in demand.
Your product of choice should be versatile, so it can be used in many appli- cations – disinfecting sur- faces, equipment, vehicle, foot dip, water systems and aerial disinfection.
It is a pity that both state and federal govern- ments don’t consider this, as prevention would be far more economical than the clean-up costs, loss of industry and loss of inter- national trade and reputa- tion on a global scale.
Many disinfectants – such as quaternary ammo- nium compounds – only have one or two APVMA approved applications, so you need multiple prod- ucts to fulfil all the appli- cations you need to cover to keep your business safe.