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Animal Diseases Act, 1984 (Act No. 35 of 1984)

Notices

Control Measures relating to Outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease

Part A: Immediate Measures on FMD Suspect and Confirmed Locations

9. Product Movement Restrictions on Confirmation on an Outbreak

 

9.1 Consideration can be given for safe removal of specific products from quarantined premises or areas after processing to ensure inactivation of the FMDV. The WOAH Code provides details of processing guidelines for different commodities to inactivate FMDV, which must be applied.

 

9.2 Such applications will be evaluated on individual merit, based on risk assessment, and written application must be submitted by the applicant to the local state veterinarian. All such movements must be on red cross permit if there is still further processing at destination, or on normal movement permit if the processing to inactivate the virus was done on the affected farm.

 

9.3 The local state veterinarian must provide a written response to the application within 5 working days after receipt thereof. If no response is received within that period, the applicant may escalate the matter, to the Provincial Director for a decision.

 

9.4 Movement restrictions may be declared by the Minister nationally for specific controlled areas and enforced by the Provincial Veterinary Services as part of individually applied quarantine notices on all farms / epidemiological units within a certain radius of the infected focus.

 

9.5 Requirements related to dairy products.

 

9.5.1 Moving milk from FMD quarantined farms for local use:
(a) Milk from farms under quarantine for FMD may be sold to processing facilities, milk must be pasteurized at the processing facility. Single pasteurization will be required for local consumption.
(b) Sales of milk direct to the public from farms under quarantine for FMD may only take place if the milk is pasteurised on the farm prior to sale.
(c) Strict biosecurity must be in place for trucks collecting milk from farms under quarantine. Trucks must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected after delivery of the milk to the processing facility.
(d) The processing facility must keep auditable records of all milk entering the premises, including farms of origin and their FMD status at the time of collection, and processing done on the milk from FMD quarantined farms.
(e) Movement of unpasteurised milk from FMD quarantined farms is subject to state veterinary permits from the state veterinary office responsible for the farms, in agreement with the state veterinarian responsible for the dairy facility.

 

9.5.2 Export of milk from FMD quarantined farms or restricted establishments.
(a) Dairy Products processed from milk from FMD-quarantined farms may be exported if it is processed in accordance with the requirements of WOAH, or to an equivalent or higher standard than stipulated by WOAH, or if the importing country expressly consents to the importation of Dairy Products processed from FMD-quarantined farms.
(b) In recognition that importing countries may have their own additional and/or alternative requirements, the exportation of Dairy Products may further take place if the importing country agrees to it.
(c) If a processing/manufacturing establishment intends to process milk obtained from FMD-quarantined farms (excluding preventatively vaccinated farms) for the export market, the owner of the establishment must apply to the supervising State Vet at the establishment for consideration. There must be auditable evidence of separation of (A) raw materials (raw unprocessed milk) from (B) finished product (already processed products), in compliance with the WOAH Code. For clarity, there is no requirement to separate raw milk when it is offloaded into the processing facility's raw milk storage tanks, regardless of the FMDV status of the raw milk, unless the importing country requires that no milk may be imported from farms under FMD restrictions.

 

9.5.3 Milk derived from a herd that has been pre-emptively vaccinated shall not be under any restrictions and will not be subject to the FMDV-specific requirements or veterinary restrictions for export purposes.

 

9.6 Manure must be appropriately treated and/or composted, considering relevant time frame noted in scientific literature of FMDV survival in manure, to inactivate FMDV while the premises is under quarantine.

 

9.7 Fodder, feed and other potentially infected products must be appropriately treated, considering relevant time frame noted in scientific literature of FMDV survival, to inactivate FMDV while the premises is under quarantine.