Shoes fumigated for foot and mouth disease on arrival Adelaide from Bali – but only for some

Passengers returning from Bali at Adelaide Airport this morning have told how their shoes are taken away to be treated before being returned – but are not asked if a hot spot isn’t declared.

Passengers arriving in Adelaide from Bali this morning were asked to declare where on the island they had travelled as authorities fight to contain the spread of foot and mouth disease.

The disease was detected at Adelaide airport this week in an undeclared beef product, sparking calls for Australia’s border with Indonesia to be closed.

Sue Price, who returned from an eight-day trip to Bali on Friday, said airport officials asked passengers whether they had been in contact with animals or travelled through any forests.

“They just ask you to declare everything,” she said.

“Any shoes you’ve got give them to them and they fumigate them.”

International traveller Sue Price exits customs at Adelaide Airport after arriving from Denpasar, Bali. Picture: Morgan Sette

Her shoes were then placed in a bag and given back once they had been treated.

Cassie Brooks, 17, said officials visually inspected her shoes but did not ask to fumigate them based on her declaration. 

“It wasn’t that bad,” she said.

“We just had to declare if we’d been near animals or fresh water. If you tick ‘yes’ they just go through your bags, they check your shoes or any meat products.

Ms Brooks said her shoes were only visually inspected by officials. 

Non-transmissible viral fragments of foot and mouth diseas were found “recently” through a detection system at the airport, the federal Agriculture Department confirmed this week.

“The passenger had declared a number of items of biosecurity concern at the border and, when prompted, also presented a meat product,” a spokeswoman said.

“The product was tested and found to contain some viral fragments of foot and mouth disease.

“Seized items, including tested items, are destroyed through biosecure means.”

However, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said fragments do not indicate live virus and assured “this does not mean we have foot and mouth disease in Australia”.