Foot and mouth disease fragments detected in Australia

Fragments have been detected on items being brought into Australia. The cost of an outbreak here is estimated at $80bn.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Foot and mouth disease fragments have been detected in luggage and goods brought into Australia from Indonesia and China.

The viral fragments were detected by biosecurity officers and the circumstances of their arrival are being investigated by the federal government.

Foot and mouth disease fragments have previously been detected at airports, but never in a retail setting.

Because the fragments were not “live” Australia will importantly retain its foot and mouth disease-free status.

If a positive case of the live virus is detected in Australian livestock, it would almost certainly put an immediate halt on the country’s live export trade and damage Australia’s disease-free meat brand.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences has estimated the cost of an outbreak at $80bn.

The highly infectious virus was identified in Indonesian cattle in May, 30 years after it had been eradicated, but its presence in Bali, a step closer to the Australian mainland and a hub for Australian tourists, was confirmed two weeks ago.

China has been battling its own outbreak of foot and mouth disease in pigs.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt on Wednesday revealed the fragments were detected in an Asian supermarket in Melbourne and on a beef product being brought in by a passenger arriving from Indonesia.

“During routine retail surveillance exercises we have detected foot and mouth disease and African swine fever viral fragments in a small number of pork products for sale in the Melbourne CBD that were imported from China,” Watt said at a press conference in Brisbane.

“In addition, several other pork products for retail sale have tested positive for African swine fever viral fragments.

“I want to emphasise this does not pose a threat to human health and importantly, despite this, Australia does remain FMD free and African swine fever free as well.”

Mr Watt said the tests were disturbing but showed biosecurity measures were working.

“I’m advised that all products now of this kind have been seized from all linked supermarkets and a warehouse in Melbourne as well,” he said.

“In addition to this, a passenger travelling from Indonesia has in recent days been intercepted with a beef product that they didn’t declare, which tested positive for foot and mouth disease viral fragments.”

It comes as Senator Watt announced sanitation foot mats would be introduced in international airports in response to the Indonesian outbreak.

“I directed my department to look at what could be done around footwear to complement the other measures in place and after careful consideration, we have decided to deploy sanitation foot mats in Australia’s international airports,” Minister Watt said.

“The fact is, there is no biosecurity silver bullet – our biosecurity controls rely on a multi-layered approach to mitigate the risk of FMD.

“These sanitation mats will be a physical reminder to passengers to do the right thing to limit any spread of FMD, and will be used in conjunction with our current measures, such as passenger declaration, 100 per cent profiling of all passengers entering from Indonesia, real time risk assessments, questioning and shoe cleaning.

“We still encourage Australians to clean their shoes and clothing, and even leave their footwear overseas if they can.”