Don’t feed swill to pigs

Agriculture Victoria

Did you know that food waste – swill – containing meat or other animal by-products must not be fed to pigs as it may contain viruses that cause diseases in animals?
The risks posed by feeding of prohibited pig feed is from infectious disease, particularly exotic viral diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), African swine fever and Classical swine fever. These diseases are very effectively spread through feeding to pigs infected or contaminated meat or meat products which may be imported from a country where the diseases is present.
Agriculture Victoria say it is not acceptable to assume that meat or meat products in the food waste that you have is safe in this respect.
To date, Australia is free of foot-and-mouth disease.
It is estimated that an outbreak of FMD in Australia would impact the national economy by up to $50 billion over a ten year period.
Feeding pigs waste food containing meat and meat products, irrespective of whether they are locally produced or imported, or imported dairy products puts this at risk.
Banning the feeding of prohibited food waste to pigs provides an important defence against the introduction of FMD or African Swine Fever to Australia.
Foods that are banned include meat, meat products and any food that is served on the same plate or that has come into contact with meat is prohibited feed, and must not be fed or supplied for feeding to pigs.
Dairy products from overseas are also banned.
Food that cannot be fed to pigs include:
• salad and vegetables that has been served with meat
• butcher’s shop waste
• pies, pasties, deli foods – including bacon, cheese (from overseas) and salads that contain meat.
Food waste can contain viruses that cause diseases in animals and these viruses are often not destroyed by – chilling, freezing, cooking and curing.
Those convicted of feeding prohibited pig feed to pigs in Victoria can be fined up to $19,028 under the Livestock Disease Control Act 1994.