As part of its PED Response Project, B.C. Pork has developed a biocontainment plan to be used in the event Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea is identified on a B.C. farm.

Heather Carriere, the manager of B.C. Pork's PED Response Project, says 15 steps are identified in the plan as important.

Heather Carriere-B.C. Pork:

Some of the key components include having all of the contact information in one place, not only for the vet and the farm information, but also all the associated trades people to the site.

By having all of that information handy it minimizes stress and time.

When, of course, when you're responding to something like PED time is of the essence.
It contains both general and specific information.

For example one of the steps says to call your herd veterinarian, general and then it has a spot for a producer to write their vet's name and phone number making it specific.

It was a really interesting exercise for the producers to go through because there's the usual ones that everyone thinks of like feed trucks but there are others that you may miss in times of stress like the hydro company or even recycling trucks.

By having that information handy, that was really important as far as minimizing the stress and time.

The biosecurity plan also highlights the enhanced biosecurity steps that need to be followed.

So things that the producer might normally do, some of them just to have them written down again.

In times of stress you may not remember everything that you need to be doing.

By having them there, it just alleviates that part of the stress.

Ms Carriere notes the plan also calls on the producer to give B.C. Pork and their herd veterinarian permission to identify their farm as infected.

She says, while some may be hesitant, producers recognize the need for good communication and all producers readily agreed.