Biosecurity efforts are being ramped up at Adelaide Airport after the discovery of viral fragments of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).
Key points:
- Foot-and-mouth disease could be devastating for Australia's livestock industry
- Viral fragments were found in meat brought in by a passenger at Adelaide Airport
- Sanitation foot mats are being rolled out at airports
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the fragments were picked up in an undeclared beef product brought in by a passenger from Indonesia.
The only flights into Adelaide from Indonesia are from Bali, where there has been an outbreak of the disease, which affects cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. While it rarely affects humans, people can carry the virus for up to 24 hours and be a source of infection for animals.
A highly contagious disease, foot and mouth is currently active in Indonesia and sanitation mats are being rolled out in Australia's international airports — with Cairns and Darwin airports to install them within days — as a precaution, to clean the footwear of arriving passengers.
Similar viral fragments have been found in imported meat in Melbourne.
Senator Watt said biosecurity officials were being extra vigilant with international flights.
"From time to time we discover things that people haven't declared and that was the way that we found beef fragments and beef products that contained viral fragments of FMD at Adelaide Airport," he said.
He said the discovery did not mean that foot-and-mouth disease was in Australia.
"What has been found is viral fragments, which are almost certainly dead," he said.
"They're not live virus and it doesn't mean that we've got foot-and-mouth disease in the country at the moment."
The federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment did not say when the fragments were found, except to note it was "recently".
A widespread outbreak of FMD in Australia could cost the economy billions of dollars.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIyLTA3LTIxL2Zvb3QtYW5kLW1vdXRoLXZpcmFsLWZyYWdtZW50cy1kaXNjb3ZlcmVkLWF0LWFkZWxhaWRlLWFpcnBvcnQvMTAxMjU5MzY20gEA?oc=5
2022-07-21 09:20:25Z
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