FMD found in goods from Indonesia, China

The devastating foot and mouth disease, which threatens to decimate Australia’s livestock industry, has been detected in goods coming into Australia from both Indonesia and China.

Foot and mouth disease infects cloven-hoofed animals and does not affect the health of humans. It can be carried on animal products, including meat and leather, and people can carry it on their shoes, clothes or in their noses, where it can survive for up to 24 hours.

If one positive case of foot and mouth were detected on an Australian farm it could shut the $27 billion (NZ$29.8b) livestock export trade down for months or even years. The federal government has estimated the total cost of a major outbreak at $80b.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt revealed yesterday that a beef product containing the foot and mouth disease virus had been detected at an Australian airport, brought by a passenger from Indonesia. Pork products that were for sale in Melbourne were also found during routine inspections to be infected with both foot and mouth disease and African swine fever – another livestock disease that has not previously circulated among animals in Australia.

‘‘We have detected Foot and Mouth Disease and African swine fever viral fragments in a small number of pork products for sale in the Melbourne CBD that were imported from China,’’ Watt said yesterday.

‘‘Several other pork products for retail sale have tested positive for African swine fever viral fragments.

‘‘I’m advised that all products now of this kind have been seized from all linked supermarkets and a warehouse in Melbourne as well.

‘‘In addition to this, a passenger travelling from Indonesia has in recent days been intercepted with a beef product that they didn’t declare, which tested positive for foot and mouth disease viral fragments.’’

An outbreak on Indonesia’s main island of Java has spread to the popular tourist island of Bali, which is visited by more than 1 million Australians a year, ramping up the risk of a first-ever outbreak in livestock Down Under.

Foot and mouth disease and swine fever have been detected in animal products in Australia before.

Watt said sanitation foot mats would be placed in international airports, which passengers would walk over to disinfect shoes and help dislodge dirt and other debris that could carry the virus.

‘‘These sanitation mats will be a physical reminder to passengers to do the right thing to limit any spread of FMD, and will be used in conjunction with our current measures, such as passenger declaration, 100 per cent profiling of all passengers entering from Indonesia, real-time risk assessments, questioning and shoe cleaning,’’ he said.

Animal products posed the biggest risk of incursion, Watt said, arguing it was a positive sign the infected beef and pork products had been detected.

‘‘These detections show that our borders are strong and that our biosecurity systems are working,’’ he said.

Foot and mouth infects domesticated farm species such as pigs, cattle and sheep, as well as feral species, including camels, pigs, goats and deer. It causes fever, lameness, and lesions on the tongue, feet, snout, and teats.

The virus is highly infectious, spreads rapidly among livestock and can survive on objects like vehicle tyres, livestock trucks and equipment.

The 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth in the UK forced the destruction of more than 6 million pigs, cows and sheep at an estimated cost of $14b.