Hog farmers have welcomed a decision by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency not to quarantine future hogs infected with H1N1.
Earlier this year, the federal agency quarantined a central Alberta farm after H1N1 was discovered in the hogs. About 3,500 hogs were slaughtered because of a combination of overcrowding after the quarantine was put in place and the negative stigma attached to the quarantined herd.
“I wish they would have had that in place before. To me, the flu has been in humans and the animal population for a long, long time,” said Herman Simons, chair of Alberta Pork.
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“It makes no sense to put pigs in quarantine.”
CFIA said the change in protocol is consistent with the recommendations of OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health.
It said there is no evidence of a food safety risk associated with the virus, there is no evidence animals play a significant role in the spread of the virus to the general human population and the virus does not behave differently in pigs than other common swine influenzas.
Two government workers taking initial samples of the animals from Arnold Van Ginkel’s farrow to finish barn came down with the virus at the end of April.
It appeared the workers took off their masks when they became fogged up from the heat inside the barn. Safety precautions and procedures were not followed, said CFIA officials.
From now on, any H1N1 outbreaks in Canadian swine herds will be managed using the same management on the farm as for other swine influenza viruses.
The decision to place the herd into quarantine caused serious financial hardship for producers across the country when international markets closed and hog prices dropped.
“It’s still having a major impact. The damage has been done,” said Simons.
