Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 3/21/16


Results of a new study suggest that the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) that devastated the global pork industry in 2013 may have originated in China – and if the circumstances are right, it may appear again.

In research published in BMC Veterinary Research, lead author and Minnesota veterinarian Scott Dee theorized that the virus can survive in feed ingredients produced in China. Once those ingredients arrive in the United States, the virus spreads across hog farms.

PEDV is particularly deadly to piglets and cost hog farmers millions of dollars since its discovery in the United States in May 2013.

Dee wrote that PEDV survived on one-third of the ingredients after a 37-day journey during an experiment to test the hardiness of the virus. In the study, ingredients imported from China to the United States – including organic & conventional soybeans and meal, lysine hydrochloride, D-L methionine, tryptophan, Vitamins A, D & E, choline, carriers (rice hulls, corn cobs) and feed grade tetracycline, were inoculated with the virus.

In September 2015, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service found that the use of Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBC or “tote bags”) best fit the criteria established for entry of the virus into the United States and introduction onto individual farms. FIBCs are commonly used to transport many types of material, including sand for flood control, soybeans, pet treats, or almost any kind of bulk material – including pig feed.

The findings highlight 2014 research that underscored the importance of washing down all equipment that could come in contact with (PEDV) and enforcing strict biosecurity measures in and around hog farms.

In that study, researchers at South Dakota State tested feed bins that had held feed suspected of contaminating pigs on three Iowa farms with PEDV. Although the farms used biosecurity measures, the feed bins in the study had been used on an emergency basis and were outside the farms’ normal biosecurity area. The feed residue still in the bins was found to be contaminated.

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