January 15, 2014
Canada worriesabout spread ofPED virus from US
Due to an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED), Canadian pork producers are worried about the spread of thevirus,which is killing young pigs in the US and has affected herds in 22 American states.
Pork producers say this could open the US market to more Canadian pork. However, there is also the danger that the disease could be brought to this country.
Egan Brockhoff, a veterinarian in Red Deer, says producers and transporters of livestock have to be very careful.
"The virus is spread through faecal oral transmission," he said. "So we want to make sure that trucks coming back to Canada that have been near American pigs are washed, disinfected and properly dried before returning to a Canadian hog farm."
Darcy Fitzgerald of the Alberta Pork Producers, says members are seeing higher prices for their product, but he cautions that preventing an outbreak of the virus in Canada is the priority. He said the economic effects will be felt mainly in the spring and summer.
Pork futures in the US have almost doubled in some cases and consumers can expect to pay more for pork as a result.