World Grain - August 2020 - 46

things that we can do to prevent it from
entering the feed system altogether. For
example, if we have segregated footwear that we can wear that is just for
employees within the mill or maybe we
are preparing pits where tires cannot
drive across them. Those are all considered sources of potential risk and biological hazards entering into feed mills.
"Those types of things could mean
that we may have a transient hazard that
is kind of moving through the mill, but it
does not necessarily become established
within the mill itself. But we do know
that, unfortunately, if that pathogen
does become established in the mill and
makes its way into the feed manufacturing system, then it can spread throughout the entire mill very easily."
HIGH-RISK INGREDIENTS
When trying to prevent foreign animal
diseases, Jones also focuses on ingredient sourcing. She suggests excluding
high-risk ingredients, including grains
and oilseeds from regions with foreign
animal disease such as African swine
fever (ASF or ASFV).
"As we consider foreign animal diseases, certainly we prioritize where ingredients are from geographically, and
so we understand that there can be more
risk from ingredients that are maybe
grown in areas that have the African
swine fever virus," Jones said. "Trying
46

Cassie Jones, right, associate professor in the
Department of Animal Science and Industry
at Kansas State University.

to understand some of those aspects and
assess the risk that could come with the
ingredient itself."
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), ASF
is a contagious and deadly viral disease
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ages. ASF is not a threat to human health
and cannot be transmitted from pigs to
humans. It is not a food safety issue.
ASF is found in countries around the
world and has recently spread through
India, China, Mongolia and Vietnam,
as well as within parts of the European
Union. It has not been found in the United States.
"For me, high-risk ingredients fall
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"There are ingredients that have potential to be contaminated with virus,
which in today's time would be a bulk
ingredient that I could be bringing in
from an ASFV-endemic country.
"If I were to have the ability to exclude
bulk ingredients from ASFV-endemic
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Then I start looking at the minor use ingredients: the vitamins and minerals,
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procure from non-ASFV endemic countries. In many cases, we can economical-

ly procure some of those, but they may
be more expensive in North America or
from European vendors. Some of those
same European vendors may have ASFV
within their countries but not necessarily
in the domesticated population."
She added that "just because ingredients are from an ASFV-endemic country, that does not necessarily mean that
they are unsafe."
Checks and balances are in place to help
determine whether an ingredient is safe.
"I think if it's produced in a laboratory-type environment that has biosecurity around it, like most of the vitamin or
amino acids would be in some of those
ASFV-endemic countries, and as long as
it's packaged on site and shipped into the
United States in the original sealed bags,
then I don't consider that to be as high
risk," Jones said. "But if a product arrives
to me from an unknown origin or its origin is from an ASFV-endemic country,
and particularly if it's in bulk without
knowledge of sanitary transportation,
I'm quite a bit more suspicious about it."
When procuring feed ingredients, Cochrane suggests feed millers ask what
quarantine procedures suppliers have in
place for the products.
"Most of the time quarantine procedures and holding times are not going
to take place at the feed mill," Cochrane
said. "It's actually going to happen at the
suppliers warehouse area. We always
encourage them to reach out to their
suppliers so that they are aware of exactly how that product is being handled
before being utilized by the feed mill."
Although Pipestone does not have
mills of its own, the company helps procure ingredients for some of the toll mills.
Pipestone is committed to a responsible importing process with "a means
to safely introduce products from countries of high risk using a science-based
approach."
"We actually require the supplier of
the products we procure to hold product
LQ WKHLU VSHFL¿F TXDUDQWLQH DUHD´ &Rchrane said. "So, that product enters that
quarantine room before it actually enters the warehouse and holding area in
August 2020 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

Photo courtesy of Cassie Jones

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World Grain - August 2020

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