FMD fragments detected in Melbourne, foot mats rolled out

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says more biosecurity measures could be announced “in coming days”, as industry calls for calm after FMD fragment detection.

Further measures to try to prevent foot and mouth disease arriving in Australia could be introduced as it continues to spread unchecked through Indonesia.

Participants in an industry forum last night were told Indonesia had 401,000 FMD cases and had administered 550,000 vaccinations as the country battles to control FMD.

And Indonesian authorities which had been tasked with that country’s covid response had now been switched over to managing the FMD outbreak.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt was a last-minute inclusion in the forum and addressed the news of the FMD fragments found in pork products in Melbourne.

Minister Watt said, “at one level”, the detection of the FMD viral fragments – not live virus – showed Australia’s biosecurity system was working.

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

He said viral fragments had been detected four times in the past decade.

When questioned on the size of fines for breaches of protocol when bringing food into Australia, Minister Watt said he would look at them “very closely”.

“It is important to make an example of people who do try this,” he said.

“It is important to send a strong message of enforcement and we are seriously considering existing penalties.”

The government has also toughened up border controls, introducing foot mats containing citric acid at Darwin and Cairns this week to reduce the risk of the FMD virus being carried in on the footwear of travellers returning from Indonesia.

Victoria’s former chief veterinary officer Charles Milne has warned border controls were critical to managing the risk of “inanimate objects known as fomites which include clothing and machinery” introducing the devastating livestock disease to Australia.

Dr Milne, who worked in Scotland during the UK’s 2001 FMD outbreak, said “we saw many examples ...of this route of transmission (fomites) which, after the introduction of tight animal movement controls, was responsible for the spread of disease to new areas”.

He also highlighted fomites were linked to Australia’s last FMD outbreak, in 1872, when contaminated packing straw from England triggered an outbreak in cattle and pigs at Werribee.

Minister Watt said he knew people were “extremely worried” about FMD and the government was taking the risk “extremely seriously”.

“We know people are incredibly stressed about FMD and lumpy skin disease … we are working day and night to keep the disease out,” he said.

While Minister Watt said foot baths would be set up in some airports within a week, he said he was prepared to look at any measure to prevent an incursion of FMD.

“If we find effective measures that will reduce the risk, we will do them and we expect to announce more in the coming days and weeks,” he said.

While returning travellers from Bali remain a big concern given the outbreak on the tourist island and the number of returning travellers, the Minster said they were not considering travel bans “at this point in time”.

Meanwhile one of the nation’s most successful ram vendors has written to clients to try to address what he has termed “the paralysing fear around FMD” as many step up to hose down the panic caused by yesterday’s announcement of the viral fragments found in Melbourne in meat.

Tom Bull from Lambpro, Holbrook, NSW, has told his clients there was always a biosecurity threat to the Australian livestock industries.

“While like many the thought of FMD in Australia is a scary thought, the risk is going to be with us indefinitely and a farmer in this decade needs to be agile for a multitude of geopolitical, biosecurity and climatic risk,” Mr Bull said.

“Don’t stop farming livestock due to fear, be prepared for shocks from a multitude of forces – FMD is only one of them – and back yourself.”

WEDNESDAY JULY 20

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has triggered panic in Australia’s livestock industry, after reporting fragments of foot and mouth disease were found in pork sold at Melbourne retail outlets.

It is not the first time FMD viral fragments have been found in pork, with former Agriculture Minister David Littleproud reporting in April last year that FMD and african swine fever viral fragments had been detected in pork products seized at Australia’s international mail centres.

However this time the viral fragments were detected in pork from retail outlets in Melbourne’s CBD. Authorities were trying to trace the original source so the entire amount of product could be destroyed rather than it being thrown out and risking the spread of FMD.

A veterinarian inspecting cattle for foot-and-mouth disease in Lampung province. FMD fragments have been detected in Melbourne, but the same has happened before, as recently as early last year. Picture: Perdiansyah / AFP

Senator Watt said it was the first time he was aware of FMD detected in an Australian retail setting in recent times.

He said while there was no live threat from the disease, it was a reminder of how vigilant Australians needed to be.

“We have always said that animal product imports are actually the biggest risk of foot and mouth disease entering the country,” he said.

“There is a risk of it coming in from a traveller’s shoes, but the biggest risk is the importation of animal products.

“At one level, these detections are very disturbing, but on another level, they show our borders are strong and our systems are working.”

While Minister Watt used today’s findings to show the strength of Australia’s biosecurity system, a producer who did not wish to be named said this was a poorly thought out strategy.

“This will cause panic with livestock producers who are already on edge due to FMD being in Bali,” the producer said.

Fragments of African swine fever were also found in the products which were detected as part of routine surveillance.

Last week, Senator Watt returned from a two-day trip to Indonesia, confirming aid not only for FMD but lumpy skin diseases as well.

Senator Watt said $500,000 would be channelled through Meat and Livestock Australia to work with Indonesian feedlots on FMD.

Of the $14 million package, $5 million will be spent on FMD and lumpy skin disease vaccination and mitigation efforts in Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea.

Victorian Farmers Federation livestock president Steve Harrison said finding of the FMD fragments in food had shown that “border security had done its job”.

But he said he was frustrated that the announcement by Minister Watt would create panic within the livestock industry.

“This shows that border security done its job and why, if it is in a food product, would the Minister set the country into a state of panic,” Mr Harrison said.

FMD-FRAGMENT DETECTIONS ANNOUNCED

FMD viral fragments have been found in processed pork floss for sale in Melbourne.

Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry announced the detection in a media statement today, revealing African swine fever fragments were also found in the sample during a recent testing campaign of food being sold in supermarkets across Australia.

Pork floss is a dried meat product that can be imported if it meets strict processing standards.

The product had been processed, but DAFF said its investigation was not satisfied it had met Australia’s requirements.

Officers seized product from all linked supermarkets and a warehouse in Melbourne.

Any members of the public who had bought the pork floss are being urged to return it to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry offices in capital cities.

A number of other pork products for sale across Australia have also tested positive for African swine fever viral fragments.

Beef seized from a traveller at the border recently has also tested positive for FMD viral fragments, the DAFF statement said on Thursday.

Agriculture Department confirmed that non-transmissible viral fragments were found through detection systems in an undeclared beef product at Adelaide Airport, as reported by the Adelaide Advertiser.

Australian Meat Industry Council chief executive Patrick Hutchinson said misdescribed food products, whether intentional or unintentional, were the main cause of FMD concern.

He said while disinfectant foot mats for travellers at airports was welcome, imported produce was the primary concern.

“There’s been investment, divestment and reinvestment in biosecurity surveillance by successive governments,” he said.

“We welcome the latest investment and the AMIC is working with government to keep on top of this. This is a time for cool heads, not for heroes.

“I know there’s been a lot of talk about foot baths, and that is great as an educational tool, but the main risk remains animal products entering Australia.

“Not just Indonesia. As today has shown, FMD can arrive from a number of countries. That’s why surveillance is crucial.”

FOOT MATS IN AIRPORTS TO BOOST BIOSECURITY

Foot mats will be introduced in international airports from this week to sanitise the soles of travellers shoes with citric acid in a bid to protect Australia’s livestock industry from the introduction of the devastating foot and mouth disease.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the mats would the mats would first be rolled out at international terminals in Darwin and Cairns in response to the Indonesian FMD outbreak.

He said travellers arriving in Australia from Indonesia will be asked to walk across the mats to sanitise the soles of their shoes.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has just imposed stricter quarantine protocols after returning from Indonesian, where he looked at the impact of FMD on our northern neighbour and gained a briefing from his counterpart Syahrul Yasin Limpo.

The mats will contain a citric acid solution, designed to dislodge any dirt from the sole of the shoe and cover it in the acid.

Travellers will still be asked to declare their contact with farms and livestock, and those with visibly contaminated shoes will continue to be taken to the biosecurity area.

“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.”

Following consultation with airports, two styles of mats will be used, with shipping already underway.

Further biosecurity measures will be discussed at today’s Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting – the first joint meeting between federal, state and territory Agriculture Ministers in eight months.

For more information visit agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/pests-diseases-weeds/animal/fmd