The federal government is beefing up the way it monitors the national hog herd for reportable diseases.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will now regularly collect blood samples from mature animals at slaughter facilities for porcine brucellosis, trichinellosis and pseudorabies.
CFIA officials have previously conducted only periodic, large-scale surveys for the three federally reportable diseases.
“Additional sample collection points may be identified as the surveillance system is further developed and implemented,” said the CFIA news release.
The enhanced surveillance system will allow Canada to confidently demonstrate there are no problems with those diseases, he added.
Surveillance for the diseases is critical to maintaining market access for hog, semen and pork products. It will also help protect human health because brucellosis and trichinellosis can be transmitted to people.
The Canadian Pork Council, the Canadian Swine Health Board and Canadian Pork International have been actively involved in developing the surveillance system.
