Iowa State University Updates Midwest Truck Wash Inventory and Compares Truck Wash Event Recording Systems

A pilot project conducted by Iowa State University has updated the online inventory of Midwest U.S. truck washes and compared automated systems for recording truck wash events and market pig movements. The final report has been issued on a pilot project conducted by Iowa State University to update the online inventory of truck washes in the Midwest and assess three different methods for automatically recording truck wash events and market pig deliveries at packing plants.

Swine Health Information Center Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says the study, funded by SHIC in partnership with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and Pork Checkoff, aimed to address the challenge of documenting truck washes between visits to slaughterhouses and return to swine barns.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:

This project is part of our wean to harvest biosecurity and really what we wanted to do is to investigate different methods or technologies that can be used to track movements of trucks and trailers, especially when we're looking at movement between plants and truck washes.If you look back at our production, the one thing that almost all animals have to do at one point in time in their lifecycle is be moved.

We also know trailers and transportation are one of the major factors in potential disease transmission and so it really is important to be able to assess and analyse what the utilization of our trailers and equipment are, how long is spent washing and then looking at ways that could potentially lead to being more efficient in the process. Transportation affects all levels and life cycles and so it very much is important to look at finding new methods or new technologies that can help make this process more efficient and reduce the risk of disease transmission.

The SHIC Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program "Platform to Automatically Classify Truck Sanitation Status Final Report" can be accessed at swinehealth.org.