Foreign animal disease (FAD) preparedness involves all aspects of herd health management including depopulation and eventual disposal. The time and logistics required to develop and implement a comprehensive FAD response plan can be intimidating. The National Pork Board (NPB) recognizes these challenges and has focused on creating various tools and resources to aid in the planning process. To test preparedness plans developed during the 2019 US Department of Agriculture’s Swine Fever Exercise for Agricultural Response tabletop exercise and incorporate lessons learned during the COVID-19 outbreak response, NPB and managing partner, SES, worked with existing exercise formats to create a fully functional FAD outbreak mock exercise. The intended outcomes for the exercise included:

• Provide state-based responders and producers with hands-on opportunities to find gaps in their plans and identify issues with the availability of equipment, supplies, or land.
• Practice an FAD investigation on a pig farm.
• Explore NPB’s AgView traceability platform to augment an FAD investigation or a subsequent epidemiological investigation.
• Provide an environment for participants to learn about, develop and practice FAD response plans in a real-life situation.
• Address the disposal logistics of other potentially contaminated materials including feed, manure, etc.

Targeted, scientific research plays a key role by providing answers to producer questions regarding topics including disease surveillance, cleaning and disinfection of equipment, depopulation, and carcass disposal. For 2022 and 2023, the NPB-sponsored, fully functional FAD exercises identified key gaps in knowledge. The FAD Research Task Force then requested, received, and funded projects to address those gaps. Key learnings were incorporated into subsequent exercises to improve federal, state, and producer FAD planning and response.

Knowledge gaps identified during the FAD exercises included topic areas of disposal-option efficacy and ability to denature African swine fever virus, the evaluation of alternative methods for mass depopulation, effective pest management for disposal locations, and alternative environmental surveillance strategies. Examples of funded projects include evaluation of efficacy and efficiency of various disposal methods, investigation of virus survivability with various disposal methods in Vietnam, environmental surveillance, scavenger management best practices, and refinement of foam procedures for depopulation.

The results from funded research and feedback from both 2022 and 2023 exercises will continue to provide a dynamic feedback loop for ongoing areas of FAD proposal funding. Prevention and preparedness for FADs can be a daunting task. The NPB functional FAD exercises have provided a hands-on method to actively run a preparedness plan, FAD investigation, and subsequent depopulation and disposal.

Additionally, the exercises uncover key gaps in knowledge in all aspects of preparedness and response that can be converted into targeted research with directly implementable outcomes. The NPB is committed to providing tools and resources for all producers such as AgView and the FAD Checklist to assist in the prevention of devastating FADs. To view the checklist and find more information on FAD preparedness planning, please visit porkcheckoff.org/animal-disease-prevention or scan the QR code.

AgView

The National Pork Board has invested in a solution to make disease traceback and pig movement data available to federal and state animal health officials on day one of a potential FAD.

AgView is a pig-contact-tracing platform for all pork producers, fully funded by Pork Checkoff dollars. Producers can download the app and opt in to provide disease status updates and pig movement data to state and animal health officials. The goal is to promote business continuity in case of an FAD outbreak.

Voluntary data-sharing features in AgView allow producers to share location and movement information with state animal health officials in real time. This will help keep information up to date at the state level about the site owner, pig owner, and related contact information for each premises, including:

• Premises
• Movement data
• Secure Pork Supply documentation
• Lab results

AgView is a solution for state veterinarians to use in an FAD to track swine movement and determine the extent of the outbreak.