SPS Introduction for Regulatory Officials
The SPS Plan was developed to provide guidance on issuing movement permits for animals moving from production sites with no evidence of infection to another site and to harvest. This business continuity approach for the pork industry aligns with your goals of containing disease and controlling its spread while ensuring a secure food supply for consumers.
The SPS Plan acknowledges that decisions will be made by Regulatory Officials based on the unique characteristics of the outbreak.
FMD, CSF, and ASF are not public health or food safety concerns. Meat will still be safe to eat.
Explore the SUB MENU and the SPS Plan page for more information.
Biosecurity Guidance
The SPS Plan recommends producers develop a site-specific enhanced biosecurity plan. Biosecurity resources for producers are available to write these biosecurity plans. Producers are being encouraged to share this plan with State Animal Health Officials prior to an outbreak.
Surveillance Guidance
Surveillance of animals for FMD, CSF, and ASF involves close observation and testing. This is also referred to as “disease monitoring” in the pork producer materials. Surveillance in the SPS Plan is the ability to demonstrate a lack of evidence of FMD, CSF, or ASF in order to request a movement permit. Potential surveillance methods are described in the Surveillance Guidance document including:
- Virological surveillance (such as oral swabs, tonsils, nasal swabs, whole blood, and oral fluids*)
- Conducting Active Observational Surveillance (AOS) daily by trained Swine Health Monitors employed by the premises
- Periodic inspection of animals and AOS records by Accredited Veterinarians under the authority of Responsible Regulatory Officials
- Follow-up laboratory testing for animals with any suspicious clinical signs
At this time, the ability to provide a very high degree of confidence that animals are negative for FMD, CSF, or ASF virus using currently available, validated laboratory testing methods, and sample collection protocols for large groups or certain types of animals is limited. Diagnostic tests to be performed and sampling protocols may evolve throughout the outbreak based on new knowledge and technology.
Watch video on Oral fluid sampling guidelines (9:09 mins)
*Research is ongoing to validate oral fluids as a diagnostic sample.
Guidance for Issuing Movement Permits
Upon diagnosis of FMD, CSF, or ASF, animal movements will be halted in an orderly way. Once the initial extent of the outbreak is defined and movement permitting systems are established, animal movements can restart for premises with no evidence of infection. This is described in more detail in the FMD Managed Movement document for Regulatory Officials. Although this document addresses FMD, many of the same approaches could be applied to ASF and CSF outbreaks.
Guidance on issuing movement permits for pigs or semen with no evidence of infection is provided on the Producer Permit Guidance page and in the SPS Plan document.
The Center for Food Security and Public Health (CFSPH) has created a Framework for Interstate and Intrastate Movement Decisions During a FMD Outbreak in the United States.
Risk Assessments
Risk assessments (RA) support managed movement and permitting of animals and animal products during disease outbreaks.
University of Minnesota staff and individuals at the USDA-APHIS-VS Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health continue to work on proactive risk assessments. The following risk assessments have been completed.
- RTE Risk Assessment Fact Sheet – Preslaughter Transfer of Animals
- FMDv Survival in Pork Products-Visual Guide
- FMDv Survival in Fresh Pork Meat- Information Sheet
All four ready-to-eat pork product documents are available on the UMN digital conservancy website.
Other proactive risk assessments can be found at this link.