The American Association of Swine Veterinarians, National Pork Board, National Pork Producers Council and Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) are asking for proposals to identify gaps in national pork industry biosecurity that could result in the entry and domestic dissemination of diseases foreign to the U.S. pork industry.

According to the announcement from the organizations, this work will "objectively prioritize those gaps based on their potential to result in the introduction and spread of swine diseases." The final report will be shared with state and federal animal health officials, pork producers, veterinarians and allied industries for actions needed to address the prioritized gaps.

Categories for consideration of study include, but aren’t limited to, foreign imports, entry of foreign travelers, transportation of animals, common inputs to production and domestic market channels, the groups said.

They added that examples of national biosecurity issues within these categories could include the safety of imported feed components and other common production inputs, the movement of trucks and animals among production phases and to markets, the approved movements between markets of market sows, the activity of and potential commercial pig interaction with feral pigs, legal feeding of plate waste containing meat and other factors that will need to be identified to fulfill the project.

Resources for proposals and instructions for submission to the National Pork Board can be found at pork.org/rfp. The deadline for submitting the written proposals for initial review is 5 p.m. (Central) April 14. Submitters whose proposals are selected for final review will be required to present the proposal and answer questions via a webinar with pork industry reviewers.

For questions, contact either Dr. Dave Pyburn with the National Pork Board at [email protected] or SHIC executive director Dr. Paul Sundberg at [email protected].