Australian campaign updates on swill risks
Australia is about to launch a new campaign to raise awareness of the risks of feeding food scraps that have been in contact with meat to pigs.
The Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food veterinarian Anna Erickson said the campaign would target small piggeries, farm stays, pet pig owners, menageries and abattoirs as well as environmental health officers and food outlets.
“Many of these people are not aware that most of their food waste fit the definition of swill and that feeding swill to pigs is illegal” Erickson said. Swill is any meat, meat scraps, meat trimmings, animal offal, blood, bones or any other material that contains meat or any other waste not known to be meat-free.
According to Erickson, feeding food scraps is most likely to be the main cause of importing food and mouth diseases into Australia.
During the campaign, department officers will be contacting all rural and outer metropolitan environmental officers to update them about swill feeding. They will also liaise with food outlets staff in their area about the disposal of food scraps and provide additional information on the risks of feeding swill to pigs.
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