AHC News and Updates

The North American African Swine Fever Forum took place in Ottawa this week to continue to advance regional cooperation in the prevention and mitigation of the impact of ASF in the Americas.

The forum examined the past, present, and future of key areas critical to managing ASF, structured around the 4 pillars recognized in the original framework.

It was only fitting to showcase some of the Top Accomplishments in the past few years. Download PDF here.

Of course, none of those accomplishments would have happened without the unprecedented collaboration between industry, federal, provincial and territorial governments, as well as academia, and other stakeholders at all levels.

Animal Health Canada is honoured to have coordinated Canada’s ASF planning, preparedness, and readiness for response.

We look forward to future work using a collaborative model that we all know works.

Canadian Swine Biosecurity Guideline
Updated biosecurity guideline outlining the latest best practices in biosecurity, providing comprehensive guidance for producers, swine health professionals, and industry partners. It includes an extensive list of recommended biosecurity measures and offers benchmark assessment tools to support ongoing on-farm biosecurity improvements.

Biosecurity Benchmark Tools
Biosecurity assessment tools designed to assist producers in evaluating the effectiveness of on-farm biosecurity measures, covering external, internal, and containment biosecurity.

Biosecurity toolkit
Developed a Biosecurity ToolKit on the importance of implementing biosecurity measures for the prevention of ASF. Includes posters, videos on biosecurity.

Mandatory training
Implemented border services officer mandatory training on the impact of African swine fever.

Detector dog teams
Added 22 new detector dog teams across Canada to detect undeclared food, plant and animal products that could pose a risk of introducing ASF into Canada.

Canada’s Invasive Wild Pig Strategy
Completed Canada’s Invasive Wild Pig Strategy. The evergreen document is a 10-year strategy that provides Canada-wide leadership to facilitate eradication of invasive wild pigs.

CFIA’s ASF-Hazard Specific Plan
CFIA’s ASF-Hazard Specific Plan (ASF-HSP) is current and ready to be implemented in the event of an ASF emergency.

Tabletop exercises
Designed and facilitated 16 tabletop exercises to validate preparedness plans and response capabilities involving government and industry.

Large-scale, multi-stakeholder exercise
AHC is organizing a large-scale, multi-stakeholder exercise for November 2024 to work through key elements of the ASF response.

Integrated Emergency Response Plan Framework for ASF
Developed the Integrated Emergency Response Plan (IERP) Framework for ASF and the associated gaps report.

CanSpotASF Program
Created the CanSpotASF program, an early detection surveillance program for ASF in Canada.
• Risk-based early detection testing at approved laboratories
• Risk based early detection condemnation testing at abattoirs
• Launched a wild pig surveillance tool in July 2024

Canadian Swine Depopulation Method Reference document
Drafted the Canadian Swine Depopulation Method Reference document.

Movement Risk Mitigation Recommendations
Drafted the Movement Risk Mitigation Recommendations in a High-risk ASF Situation in Canada.

Surplus Swine Depopulation Plan
Drafted the Surplus Swine Depopulation Plan to enable the ability to resume and/or increase production as market access is re-established and volume requirements increase.

ASF zoning standards
Established ASF zoning standards and shared requirements with FPTI stakeholders. Zoning standards are outlined in the CFIA’s HSP for ASF.

Compartmentalization Program
Completed the Canadian African Swine Fever Compartmentalization Program to support trade of live pigs, pork and pork products if the disease is present in Canada.

AAFC’s African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program
Established the ASF-IPP funding program to support the industry in addressing gaps in prevention and mitigation efforts and for the tools, partnerships, and activities to ensure early detection and effective emergency response.

Model for Shared Costs
Drafted the Development of Model for Shared Costs in the Event of Foreign Animal Disease Outbreak

Information flow
Created a notifications pathway to map the information flow process from African swine fever suspicion to 24 hours post announcement to align on points of accountability and dependencies between organizations.

ASF Emergency Communication Guide
Created an ASF Emergency Communication Guide created to ensure ASF prevention messaging is consistent among FPTI stakeholders.

Contact list
Established a communication contact list, shared and regularly updated.

Traveller awareness campaign
Created Don’t Pack Pork traveller awareness campaign to help prevent African swine fever entry into Canada.

Communications resources for project/ programs
Developed and shared resources on topics such as:

  • Producer awareness and biosecurity
  • Food safety awareness
  • Emergency response /Communications logistics