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Australia’s meat and livestock industry leaders are urging farmers to remain calm after Federal authorities this week confirmed viral fragments of foot-and-mouth disease had been detected in Victoria.
Fragments of FMD and African swine fever were found in pork products for sale at a retailer in Melbourne’s CBD as part of routine surveillance after being imported from China.
The live viruses were not detected in any of the contaminated items and Australia remains free of both diseases, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
“This is not the first time that routine testing has identified viral fragments in seized products and does not change Australia’s FMD and ASF status,” it said in a statement.
The department also revealed FMD viral fragments were found recently in a beef product intercepted at an Australian airport after being brought in by a passenger from Indonesia.
The passenger, who was issued a warning, did not declare the item until they were questioned at the border by a biosecurity officer.
The news has prompted the Australian Meat Industry Council to release a statement calling on livestock producers and farmers to remain calm.
“These findings are not new,” AMIC chief executive Patrick Hutchinson said.
“They are part of the surveillance program for biosecurity which is the role of the Australian Government via Border Force and other departments.
“These have been increased by successive governments, all of which have been supported by AMIC.”
Mr Hutchinson said the discoveries showed the risk of FMD spreading to Australia was greatest at the nation’s borders and airports — areas authorities had been monitoring “for many years”.
“The latest detection of FMD in pork products from China being sold in the CBD of Melbourne shows that the risk of incursion is from not only Indonesia but also from other destinations,” he said.
“These findings vindicate AMIC’s assertions that this issue is about targeted management of high-risk areas, being illegally and/or misdescribed food products coming into Australia.”
The Australian Livestock Exporters Council has also spoken out, with chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton calling for “calm and pragmatic bipartisan discussion”.
“It is critically important this detection is reported accurately; live virus was not detected and Australia maintains its FMD-free status,” Mr Harvey-Sutton said.
“It is critically important this is clear to our global trading partners.
“We are very fortunate to have one of the best biosecurity systems in the world supported by one of the best, if not the best, traceability systems in the world.”
Mr Harvey-Sutton said the developments highlighted the need to continue investing in biosecurity systems.
Indonesia has been battling an FMD outbreak since early May.
The disease has spread to at least 22 provinces across the archipelago nation, including Bali, with more than 230,000 confirmed cases.
