050615 Australia Halts U.S. Pork Imports

Twin Falls, ID - In a twist to free trade, Australia put the skids to any more pork or pork products coming in from the United States, Canada and Denmark.

"That puts us in quite a predicament," said Nick Giordano, spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council. "We've got a lot of very perishable product in transit to Australia. Now what are we going to do with it?"

An Australian producer group, Australia Pork Ltd. brought push to shove when they filed suit against the Australia Agriculture Ministry claiming the risk of Post Weaning Multi-systemic Wasting Disease in swine coming into the country would be economically detrimental to their producers.

Although the judge issued the initial order, the final decision has yet to be implemented, Giordano said.

"At this point, we don't know if the product en route will be accepted or not," he said.

Pork adrift on the high seas is really secondary to what Giordano said is the long-term issue, and that is getting trade going again with Australia. The United States exported $19 million worth of pork to Australia between October 2004 and March 2005. That makes annual projections at about $50 million and is a big loss to U.S. pork producers "if we can't continue," he said.

Eric Neumann, veterinarian with the National Pork Board said the disease that Australia is concerned about is one that is present "no matter where you raise swine."

"It is an interesting disease because it doesn't have a real clear diagnosis," he said.

In a fact sheet prepared by Neumann and his colleagues, type 1 PMWS was identified in 1974 in laboratory tissue cultures. In 1991, swine veterinarians in western Canada began reporting cases of nursery pigs falling ill with clinical signs of the disease, including diarrhea, loss of body condition and overall "failure to thrive." It wasn't until 1997 the name postweaning multisystemic wasting disease was applied to the malady. It has now been reported from most pig-producing countries of the world.

"Europe has done the most work and study on the disease," Neumann said. "To date nobody has figured out what exactly causes it. It doesn't appear to be genetically predisposed or brought on by environment."

Giordano argued that the Australia's risk analysis was thorough concerning introduction of PMWS from other countries.

"We are surprised at the judge's ruling," he said. "Australian producers just don't want the competition."

American Meat Institute President and CEO Patrick Boyle said the Australian judge "chose to ignore sound science in favor of protectionism for a small group of producers."

"We hope the Australian government will be able to resolve this issue quickly," he said.

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