Researchers Seek Cost Effective Approaches to Feed Mill Decontamination

Research being conducted by Kansas State University is expected to help feed manufacturing facilities protect the products they provide from viral contamination. In response to research that has shown viruses can be transmitted through feed and feed ingredients, raising concerns that feed mills could become infected with African Swine Fever, Kansas State University in partnership with the Swine Health Information Center, is working to improve the cost effectiveness of the decontamination of feed manufacturing facilities and equipment.

Swine Health Information Center Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg explains, once a virus is introduced into a feed manufacturing environment, all kinds of things will move it around and, once it becomes widespread, it's difficult to get out.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:

We're going to use different pathogens. We're going to use Senecavirus A because that one, we know is a very hardy virus. It's one that is used in a lot of studies because it is one of the hardiest viruses that we have in animal agriculture.

So, we're going to use Senecavirus A. We also use PED because there's been a lot of research done on PED within feed mills and there's interest in PRRS because of its opportunity to be spread as well. We use those first of all to look directly at the decontamination effectiveness for different procedures, whether it's mechanical and trying to scrub the viruses out or whether it is chemical in trying to disinfect and decontaminate that way.

We look at those first and we're trying to learn these preliminary lessons and then we'll apply that to ASF and see if the same lessons will hold with ASF in the high biosecurity laboratories.