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Update on Biosecurity Testing of Horizontal Grinders
Citation:
Lemieux, P., S. Serre, J. Wood, W. Calfee, V. Boddu, M. Pirhalla, J. Thurman, P. Burnette, L. Miller, R. Miknis, AND M. Mayes. Update on Biosecurity Testing of Horizontal Grinders. In Proceedings, 7th Triennial Symposium on Animal Mortality Management, Raleigh, NC, June 27 - 30, 2022. International Symposium on Animal Mortality Management, 1-12, (2022).
Impact/Purpose:
This is an update on the testing of the horizontal grinders that EPA and USDA are collaborating on. For presentation at the 7th Triennial Symposium on Animal Mortality Management, June 27-30, 2022, Raleigh, NC
Description:
Management of huge quantities of large animal carcasses, due to foreign animal disease outbreaks such as the current African Swine Fever virus (ASFv) outbreak, is particularly challenging. Composting 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, and 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 the grinding operations and transported via atmospheric processes downwind constitute a risk for spread of the virus to neighboring farms and nearby wildlife. This presentation gives an update on that effort.
