The goal is to eliminate PED from all Ontario swine herds.

Eliminating PED reduces overall disease pressure on our herds, improves herd productivity, and improves the competitiveness and economic viability of the Ontario swine industry. Going through this process will also help us develop and improve tools to support the control and elimination of any disease of significance to the hog industry, not just PED. This will improve our long-term disease response capacity and industry sustainability.

When a positive test is found, producers work with their veterinarian on biosecurity and sanitation protocols to contain and control PED in the herd and work towards elimination.

Yes. Transporters and producers are both informed if PED positive pigs are confirmed. 

Yes. The PED elimination plan is not intended to interrupt business, but rather to put in place plans to reduce risk. Orderly marketing plans and sanitation solutions for transport and processing will accomplish this.

Producers can resume regular hog shipments once a PED presumed negative site status is confirmed and communicated to their processor partners.

No. There is no human health risk from PED and PED positive hogs are not slaughtered separately. However, load delivery for positive sites will be scheduled to allow for an appropriate sanitation solution to reduce risk for other producers, such as end of day deliveries.

All federally licensed processing plants in Ontario are participating in the PED elimination plan. Provincially licensed plants will be approached to discuss actions they can take to reduce PED transmission risks as the plan is implemented.

We will work to identify all sites positive for PED or Porcine Delta Coronavirus (PDCoV) including sites which have received positive pigs. As well, we will work with our processor partners to enact a system for orderly marketing to market virus-positive pigs efficiently and safely. This will include a requirement from federally licensed Ontario processors that all positive sites declare and have biosecurity solutions in place to market pigs safely.

The plan can’t completely eliminate the risk from trucks travelling into Ontario from the U.S., but it does include sanitation protocols designed to reduce the risk of PED transmission.

Should PED be confirmed, a PED elimination plan will be implemented for that specific farm. On-going surveillance will identify where extra cleaning and disinfection may be needed at industry contact points.

The goal is PED elimination from all Ontario farm sites with an effective response plan in place in case of any subsequent breaks. Next steps will include further work to reduce PED transmissions risks associated with cull pigs and assembly as well as reducing U.S. contact risks. All of this work will continue our efforts to improve our swine health system in Ontario.