You are here:
Update on Biosecurity Testing of Horizontal Grinders
Citation:
Lemieux, P., Joe Wood, W. Calfee, V. Boddu, M. Pirhalla, S. Serre, J. Thurman, P. Burnette, L. Miller, R. Miknis, AND M. Mayes. Update on Biosecurity Testing of Horizontal Grinders. 2022 International Symposium on Animal Mortality Management, Raleigh, NC, June 27 - 30, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentating at the 2022 International Symposium on Animal Mortality Management; Raleigh, NC; June 27-30, 2022 to provide an update on the 2021 round of testing that examined mitigation and cleaning/disinfection issues.
Description:
Management of huge quantities of large animal carcasses is particularly challenging, especially when considering foreign animal disease incidents such as the current African Swine Fever virus (ASFv) outbreak. Composting the carcasses is a disposal option that could be used to inactivate the virus and provide soil amendment material. However, the large animal size comprising the affected swine population results in operational challenges due to the time required for the composting process to be completed. The use of horizontal grinders to grind the animal carcasses prior to composting was evaluated from an operational standpoint. The grinders have sufficient capacity to achieve the targeted > 1M lb/day of throughput. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA/APHIS) and North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS), conducted a study to assess the potential for virus particles generated from grinding operations and transported via atmospheric processes downwind to constitute a risk for spread of the virus to neighboring farms and nearby wildlife. This presentation gives an update on that effort.