Policy

SwineCast 1042 Show Notes:

• From the 2018 Midwest Pork Conference comes timely insight on the US & China trade future with Brett Stuart of Global AgriTrends. Brett highlights the current state of the ag economy with insights on trade politics and market positions.
• Brett suggests to watch for if (and when) a pork gap emerges. He also states 2019 pork exports would need to increase 20% to keep per capita supplies steady with 2018, which are record high.

Cool Logic; Solving A Norovirus Outbreak In A Commercially-distributed Food Alida Sorenson shares how the connection of a human pathogen to food, combined with the ability to store food a long time and be traded globally, allow pathogens to go farther and impact more people. Using a case study of norovirus in ice-cream in Minnesota, Ms. Sorenson traces how the clues came together and what the response teams had to do to identify, contain, and eliminate the norovirus [video].

SwineCast 1040 Show Notes:

• In this episode of At The Meeting Honoring Dr. Bob Morrison, discussion continues on African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in China and Europe.
• Dr. Montserrat Torremorell, Dr. Tom Wetzell, and Dr. Gordon Spronk have an important conversation about the impact of ASF on the global swine industry, and what it could mean if it reaches the United States.
• The cohosts sit down with Dr. José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid to discuss the history of the disease and the work he and his team have done to combat ASF, such as developing laboratory tests to aid in diagnosis and control.
• "African swine fever is, in general, an underestimated disease that many people don’t understand," says Dr. Sánchez-Vizcaíno. "But one of the keys to fighting ASF is an early-detection system."