The pork sector would be devastated if the disease reached Canada.   Ottawa—While Canada is about as ready as it could be for an outbreak of African swine fever, it would still be a major blow to the country's pig farmers, says Egan Brockhoff, Veterinary Counselor for the Canadian Pork Council. During an international conference here in April, 2019 on how to stop to the spread of the deadly swine disease already ensconced in Eastern Europe and China, Canada set out to develop a Pan Canadian Action plan to keep the disease out and control it if it reaches here. “The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has kept the disease out of the country and we've become prepared to deal with it if it does come,” he said. The plan was developed by a group of industry and government experts who two years ago began discussing plans and priorities on a weekly basis but now have monthly conferences. The three central issues they've worked on are biosecurity at pig farms, the safe euthanasia and disposal of infected pigs and business continuity plans for the sector. Canada could lose its export markets if the disease was found here. It's the third largest pork exporter and in 2019, shipped more than 1.2 million tonnes of pork and pork products valued at $4.2 billion to 94 countries. Emergency response centres have been established or Western Canada, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces ad strict controls over the movement of pigs would come into effect. Key issues are curbing the illegal movement of uncooked meat by travellers who could bring the disease to a country that is free of it as well as stopping the importation of animal feeds from countries that have ASF outbreaks. “A lot of lessons have been learned developing the Action Plan,” he said. It has also helped the sector to assess and update plans for other swine health threats. “Its been good to see industry and government collaborating on this issue.” ASF poses no threat to human health but is almost always fatal for pigs exposed to it. “It's not highly contagious and doesn't spread like wildfire but if one herd in one province gets it, that affects the 70 per cent of our pork production that's exported.” Brockhoff was recently presented with the Merck Veterinary Award by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association for his significant contributions to the advancement of food animal medicine and surgery, including herd health management. He plays an instrumental role in the ongoing development of the Canadian Pork Council's (CPC) on-farm food safety and animal care quality assurance programs. The Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network, a partnership between the Canadian Pork Council and the Canadian Association of Swine Veterinarians, is one example. This initiative ensures the veterinary community and pork producers are working closely to improve Canada's swine health surveillance program. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) called in July for a global initiative to control ASF. The major factors that increase the risk of the disease's spread are livestock management systems with inadequate biosecurity measures and human behaviour. Countries need to establish adequate risk management through development and refinement of national control programmes and recognize risk communication as a crucial component of effectively addressing risk pathways and high-risk practices. Countries were also encouraged to maintain transparency through timely disease notification and manage risks by implementing the international standards in relation to zoning. Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.