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Mitigating viruses in pig feed ingredients.

Mitigating viruses in pig feed ingredients. Veterinary researchers in the US and Canada have become particularly interested in the role feed has to play in transmission of viruses.

 A team of leading experts dived into the question of how viruses might be shipped around the planet. It was in 2014 that the North American veterinary community – as well as the worldwide feed and pork industries – started to realise that viruses were being transmitted in feed. Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea (PED) broke out in the United States in 2013 and, by January 2014, the disease had arrived in Canada.


 “We figured out quite quickly at that point that the outbreak here in Canada was linked to a certain feed ingredient, from the same feed mill, and soon thereafter a research paper was published by scientists at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg Manitoba that showed the link was possible”, explains Dr Egan Brockhoff, veterinarian at Prairie Swine Health Services in Red Deer, AB, Canada and veterinary counsellor for the Canadian Pork Council. “

 African Swine Fever (ASF) came along and since then in the US, Dr Scott Dee, Dr Megan Niederwerder and Dr Cassandra Jones and others have done a lot of work to look into how viruses can tag along in feed ingredients being shipped all over the world.”

 Among the many other studies, Dr Dee (of Pipestone Applied Research at Pipestone Veterinary Services, MN, United States) and colleagues had published an evaluation in 2018 of the survival of livestock viruses in animal feed ingredients that were, and still are, imported daily into the US.

 The study involved simulated transboundary shipping conditions and 11 diseases of global significance: Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Classical Swine Fever, ASF, influenza A, pseudorabies (Aujeszky’s Disease), Nipah disease, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), Swine Vesicular Disease, Vesicular Stomatitis, Porcine Circovirus 2 and Vesicular Exanthema of Swine.


 For six viruses, it was possible to use surrogates with similar genetic and physical properties, but for the others actual viruses had to be used “We found that more viruses survived in conventional soybean meal, lysine hydrochloride, choline chloride, vitamin D and pork sausage casings,” says Dr Dee. “These results also supported data already published on the risk of transporting PEDv in feed.”

Read research here.

Abattoirs: Coronavirus can spread over 8m at cutting floor in slaughter houses.

Abattoirs: Coronavirus can spread over 8m at cutting floor in slaughter houses. Circumstances at a cutting floor can help SARS-CoV-2 spread over distances over 8 metres. That has become clear in a case study about the first wave of Covid-19 outbreaks in May, at Germany’s largest slaughterhouse, owned by Tönnies.

 The study also showed that all infections during this first wave of Covid-19 outbreaks originated with just one employee. It occurred because a slaughterhouse employee got in touch with employees of an infected plant of a different packer, Westcrown, located in Dissen. Thirdly, employee housing did not play a major role in that first wave, which occurred in late May.

 In mid-June a second wave followed, which caused the meatpacker to close its doors for almost a month. The research was carried out by a joint study of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, the University Medical Center Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf and the Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology.

 The study showed that the virus most likely spread from 1 single employee who was working on the cutting floor for beef. This employee indicated that together with a colleague, he had been in touch with employees of the sow cutting floor at Westcrown in Dissen, Lower Saxony. He did so after Covid-19 had been detected in that plant.

 The Tönnies employee did not demonstrate any clinical signs of the virus and the contact with Westcrown employees was not considered to be a high-risk contact, which is why the employee continued to show up at work. At 3 days after the meeting, the employee was tested and one day later a positive result followed, for both the employee as well as the colleague. Both then had to go into quarantine.

 The researchers also zoomed in on the routes the virus took from this one employee to the other employees within Tönnies. From that research, it emerged that most colleagues within an 8m radius around the infected colleague had also tested positive.

In the study it was therefore concluded that virus particles can be transmitted over longer distances under the conditions of a cutting floor. Professor Adam Grundhoff, co-author of the research, said, “Our results indicate that the conditions during cutting enhance the aerosol transfer of SARS-CoV-2 particles over longer distances,think of the lower temperature and a limited input of fresh air in combination with heavy manual labour.

 It is very likely that these factors in general play a crucial role in outbreaks all over the world in meat or fish processing companies. Obviously, under those conditions, a distance of 1.5 to 3 metres are insufficient to prevent transmission.”

 There is a need to improve physical distancing in the slaughter houses as well as use better protective equipment to enhance safety.

Meat processing companies such as Cargill are protecting workers by provision of face shields, barriers between work stations, hair nets, boots and lots more.

The use of face shields in slaughter houses is a welcome development alongside maintaining required distance as well as use of hand sanitizers or washing hands with soap and water.

 More on research here

Pig producers considers stopping castration.

 Pig producers considers  stopping  castration.

10 pig producers’ organisations in Western France are considering to stop castrating piglets as from December 31, 2021.

 The organisations represent a respectable part of the country’s producers. The proposal of the 10 organisations is a reaction to a decision by Didier Guillaume, France’s minister for agriculture and food.His aim is to improve animal welfare in France’s pig industry and one of his measures is that, after 2021, castration will only be allowed when anesthetics are applied.


 The intention is that the basis price for pigs will be adjusted. The collectives feel that gilts as well as entire boars will form the reference for pig prices as from 2021.

 The slaughterhouses will become the place for checks whether or not carcasses will have boar taint, these could be detected by sniffing at the slaughter line by humans. Additional costs of these checks will be carried jointly by the pig farms that stopped castrating.

PIG CASTRATION: EXPERT OPINION.

Surgical castration is a painful husbandry procedure performed on piglets within the first week of life to improve meat quality. In the United States alone, approximately 94 million piglets will be castrated on an annual basis.

 Castration of piglets in Nigeria is common procedure on pig farms and the purpose is to remove boar taint from the pork, reduce fighting's within the pens and also hasten growth of the piglets..

 This procedure is carried out at an early stage but analgesic is provided. There is a school of thought advocating castration or no castration, this group wants your take on why you castrate and under what conditions do you castrate.

 Piglet castration is an ambiguous practice – on one side nobody likes it, yet stopping the practice or offering pain relief appears difficult to achieve in many countries. Health and welfare expert Dr Monique Pairis-Garcia and her colleagues at North Carolina State University would like to understand why – and are looking for your experiences and motives.

 Give your reasons, share your views let the international community understand your practice here.

Covid-19 and benefits of face shields.

The use of face protection in the wake of corona virus pandemic is very important to ensure safety. The type of protection depends on your nature of work and the number of people you interact with daily. The use of face masks or face shields is of paramount importance to curb the spread of the corona virus.

 The face masks could be disposable or washable depending on your routine or work schedule. The use of face shield is offering better protection irrespective of your workflow and its so comfortable. The face shields protects from dust, spills and aerosol sprays.

The advantage of the face shield over the face mask is the fact that your entire face is protected with an added advantage of protecting your eyes. Corona virus has been reported to be transmissible through eyes.

The use of face shield offers protection from the virus as it creates a barrier between you and the next person and per adventure the person is asymptomatic and sneezes you are protected.

 A recent study gives credence to this fact that except you are working in the hospital or taking care of a Covid-19 patient then the face shield is your choice. Call to order your special face shields today.
 Face shield must be worn for optimal protection, the shield should extend below the chin , to the ears laterally, and there should be no exposed gap between the forehead and the shield’s headpiece. Clinical studies shows face shield is the most important for optimum protection.

 Face shields offer a number of advantages. The  surgical masks have limited durability and no potential for reprocessing, face shields can be reused indefinitely and are easily cleaned with soap and water, or  disinfectants.


They are comfortable to wear, protect the portals of viral entry, and reduce the potential for auto-inoculation by preventing the wearer from touching their face. People wearing surgical masks often have to remove them to communicate with others around them; this is not necessary with face shields.


The use of a face shield is also a reminder to maintain social distancing, but allows visibility of facial expressions and lip movements for speech perception.
   Face shields significantly reduce the amount of inhalation exposure to influenza virus, another droplet-spread respiratory virus.

 In a simulation study with face shields , these were shown to reduce immediate viral exposure by 96% when worn by a simulated health care worker within 18 inches of a cough. Even after 30 minutes, the protective effect exceeded 80% and face shields blocked 68% of small particle aerosols,which are not thought to be a dominant mode of transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

 When the study was repeated at the currently recommended physical distancing distance of 6 feet, face shields reduced inhaled virus by 92%, similar to distancing alone, which reinforces the importance of physical distancing in preventing viral respiratory infections.


 Reference Lindsley WG , Noti JD , Blachere FM , Szalajda JV , Beezhold DH . Efficacy of face shields against cough aerosol droplets from a cough simulator. J Occup Environ Hyg. 2014;11(8):509-518.PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

COVID-19 EXTERMINATORS.

 Consult the team for  1)fumigation services.

                                        2) sale of face shields

                                             3) sale of face masks

          

                                                      4) Hand sanitizers.