Parliamentary Secretary Jean-Claude Poissant, on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay, announced investments of over $1.5 million to support animal health and disease surveillance in the hog sector.

The Government will invest up to $1.5 million in the Canadian Pork Council (CPC) to adopt a virus detection system to support animal health. Funded under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s AgriAssurance Program, the virus detection system will enable the CPC to provide consistent information on the health status of the hog population across the country, track early disease warning signs, and rapidly identify new and emerging diseases in the sector before they spread.

This complements a previous investment of more than $94,000 to the University of Montréal (UdeM) to develop an advanced disease surveillance tool to enable faster threat detection across Canada. With funding under Growing Forward 2’s AgriMarketing Program (Assurance Systems stream), the surveillance model developed by the UdeM’s Diagnostic Services will enable the hog sector to better understand the frequency of diseases, emerging strains, and the movement of endemic diseases in Canada.

Canada’s hog sector, which includes over 8000 hog farms, is a key driver of the Canadian economy, accounting for $4.5 billion in farm receipts and $4 billion in pork exports in 2017.

After several years of decline, salmonellosis cases in the EU have flattened out. In 2017 the number fell slightly from 94,425 to 91,662 but the downward trend that began in 2008 has stalled in recent years. These are the main findings of the annual report on trends and sources of zoonoses published today by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

S. Enteritidis is the most commonly reported type of Salmonella in humans, causing one in seven foodborne outbreaks. In the period 2013-2017, the trend of confirmed cases of S. Enteritidis in humans was stable and seemed to mirror an analogous trend in laying hens.

The 5,079 foodborne and waterborne outbreaks reported in 2017 represent a 6.8% decrease compared with 2016. Salmonella bacteria were the most common cause of foodborne outbreaks, particularly in meat products and eggs, which caused the highest number of outbreak cases.

Campylobacter and Listeria

Cases of campylobacteriosis decreased slightly in 2017 compared to 2016 (246,158 vs 246,917), but it is still the most commonly reported zoonotic disease in the EU. The highest occurrence was detected in chicken meat (37.4%) and turkey meat (31.5%).

Cases of listeriosis decreased slightly in 2017: 2,480 infections were reported, against 2,509 in 2016. However, the trend has been upward over the past five years. The group most affected by the disease in 2017 were the elderly, particularly those over 84. In this age group, listeriosis fatality rate was 24%; overall in the EU, the infection was fatal to one in every 10 patients. The highest levels of L. monocytogenes were detected in fish and fishery products (6%), followed by ready-to-eat salads (4.2%).

The last report drafted by the WOAH/OIE on Classical swine fever (CSF) in Japan confirms the detection of 48 new outbreaks of the disease in wild boars (47 cases) and pigs (1 outbreak). All the outbreaks are located in the province of Gifu.

In the case of the pig farm, it is located in the town of Minokamo and had 491 susceptible animals. After the detection, restrictions to the movements of animals and to the transport to/from the farms have been imposed within a 3- and 10-km radius from the affected farm, respectively. Stamping out is taking place on the affected farm.

Summary of the wild boar surveillance: As of November 30th, 2018, 466 wild boars (52 dead and 414 captured) in the prefecture of Gifu have been tested, and 60 have been positive for Classical swine fever with RT-PCR since September 13th. In 37 prefectures, 136 wild boars (129 dead and 7 captured) were tested and all were negative with RT-PCR since September 14th.