CanSpot ASF testing to expand to provincial processing plants

As the threat of African swine fever (ASF) creeps closer to North America, CanSpot ASF is ramping up its programming.

CanSpot ASF is a risk-based early detection program aimed at limiting ASF transmission, and reducing its spread. 

“Canadian and provincial governments, along with members of the pork industry, have made significant investments to reduce the risk of ASF coming to Canada,” said Belinda Sutton, media relations for Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). “And to mitigate the damage if the disease is able to breach our borders.”

Why it matters: Surveillance is the best way to know whether ASF has entered Canada and will help stop its spread if it appears here.

Sutton said that while ASF is not a threat to human health or food safety, it can present similarly to many other diseases routinely detected in Canada. As such, she said veterinarians, farmers and processors should be on the lookout for swine mortalities and reproductive losses above historical trends for a herd.

Conditions that can mask ASF are septicemia, multiorgan hemorrhages, cyanotic skin lesions and vasculitis, hemorrhagic diarrhea, and nephropathy syndrome, fibrinous pleuritis and pericarditis, mulberry heart disease and splenic torsions.

In August 2020, through CanSpot ASF’s pilot program, Ontario veterinarians accessed early roll-out surveillance testing of the domestic swine population with a history of these endemic diseases. 

In April 2022, federal processing plants came on board with testing protocols and now Ontario’s provincial plants are poised to do the same. 

“To date, there have been no known cases of ASF in Canada or the United States,” she said. “But the impact of the disease on the pork industry in North America would be considerable if an outbreak of ASF was detected.”

OMAFRA is working in partnership with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), other government agencies and the swine sector to prepare for potential outbreaks, including monitoring international cases and advising pig farmers on biosecurity preparedness. 

“Our role in government is not just to react to what happens in Ontario, but to also be proactive to help mitigate risks to our agri-food sector and food supply,” she said. “That is why the Ontario and federal governments launched the Enhanced Biosecurity for African Swine Fever Preparedness Initiative, a targeted $3 million intake that provided funding to pork farmers, processors and other agribusinesses who travel onto pork farms to assist them with ASF planning and proactive biosecurity measures.”

Sutton said the province also funds education outreach and awareness campaigns for farms that market fewer than 1,000 hogs or 50 sows annually. 

She said that earlier this year, a new regulation expanded the definition of “hazard” under the Animal Health Act which will help the province reduce the impact of disease and significant market disruptions on animal health, human health and the economy.

To access more information about testing eligibility, go to the Ontario Animal Health Network website.