Australian meat and dairy could vanish if outbreak of foot and mouth disease occurs

[Stone]

Foot and mouth disease Australia: Australian meat and dairy could vanish if outbreak occurs
Australians have been warned of essential items vanishing from supermarket shelves as the nation is on a knife’s edge over a worrying virus.

news.au.com [adapted] | July 16, 2022

As farmers wait on a knife’s edge to see if efforts to stop foot and mouth disease (FMD) from entering the country are successful, Australians have warned of the devastating havoc the disease could wreak if it gets here.

CEO of independent farming systems group, Riverine Plains, Catherine Marriott, says the looming threat has farmers and producers in a panic and that an outbreak could change the way Australian households shop and eat.

“You won’t be able to get milk, butter, cheese, yoghurt – all of that goes,” she told news.com.au.

“You wouldn’t be able to buy it and prices would go through the roof. If people think meat and dairy is expensive now … brace yourself.”

While FMD is relatively harmless to humans, it can have devastating effects on livestock and cloven-hoofed animals including cattle, pigs, buffalo, sheep, goats and deer. The highly contagious condition results in blisters that rots off the mouths and feet of infected animals.

While politicians say an FMD outbreak could cause a $80 billion hit to Australia’s economy, domestically, it would also cause “very, very real” supply chain issues, says Ms Marriott. Depending on the extent of the FMD outbreak, Australia would need to look at importing our beef, lamb and dairy products.

“Where do you fill that hole from? You just can’t,” says Ms Marriott.

“It’s a multifaceted challenge. People won’t be able to get meat, you’ve got an animal welfare nightmare and there’s not enough trained vets in Australia to deal with it.

“Australian families, eating and enjoying safe healthy Australian meat could be challenged significantly.”

Should Australia experience a FMD outbreak, supermarket meat sections could be left empty. Picture: Tony Gough

Dairy produced using Australian cows will also likely disappear from supermarkets.

This comes as both Coles and Woolworths announced have increased their prices on their homebranded milk offerings. From Friday, the major supermarkets will charged $1.60 for a litre of homebranded milk, $3.10 for two litres and $4.50 for a family-sized three litre. This marks an increase of 25c on the one litre, 50c for two litres and a 60c jump on three-litre bottles.

In a statement, Coles said they had to pass on the cost rises due to “agreed significant increases to wholesale prices”.

The price increase also comes as seasonal conditions in NSW have led to 30 to 40 per cent drops in milk yields, with natural disasters and skyrocketing input costs further impacting farmer profit margins.


A devastating knock-on effect

While the potential $80 billion economic impact will be horrific, Ms Marriott says the sheer scale of devastation is hard to envisage. Should a large-scale outbreak occur, she believes the“knock-on effect” could see countless businesses and producers go bankrupt.

“If it got out properly, you’re talking about people who have five generations of genetics and breeding,” she said.

“Because it’s so quickly to spread, they just euthanise all the animals when they find an outbreak, whether they’re showing symptoms or not.

“That was what was so devastating in Britain. They were shooting perfectly healthy stock because they just couldn’t afford for that disease to go rampant throughout the country.”

In order for cattle farmers to rebolster their herds, Ms Marriott says the price of replacement livestock will “go through the roof”.

She also stresses the emotional toll that farmers and producers will face, should they be forced to euthanise their herds. In some cases, this will decimate farmers who have placed generations into breeding and caring for their livestock.

“I’m walking down the street with a half-semi parked on my chest and I don’t even have livestock but I do work in that sector,” she said.

“It is so distressing to have to go around and put live stock down, to shoot the herds and see piles of burning livestock because the virus is just so virulent.

“That’s what’s stressing me and it’s going to send families and rural communities to the wall.”

Although vaccines offer some protection, there is no cure, with euthanasia the primary method of controlling an endemic. Feral pigs, goats and deer can also become FMD superspreaders, with isolation efforts near impossible, says Ms Marriott.

“We can all of out biosecurity plans in place and make sure that everyone washes when they come in, but the reality of it is that you get a bloody feral grunter come through and it just spreads it willy nilly,” she said.


$14m invested to stop the spread

In order to curb the spread, the government has invested $14 million in order to ensure FMD, and another virus called lumpy skin disease, doesn’t reach Australian shores and is able to be contained in Indonesia.

More than a third of the package is comprised of $5 million in immediate support to Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea. $9 million has also been invested into strengthening Australia’s biosecurity measures, including more officers, in airports and mail centres.

“The highest-risk way of foot-and-mouth disease coming back in our country is actually through animal products, meat products and dairy products, being brought in, whether by postage or freight or any other means,” said Agricultural Minister Murray Watt.

“It is important we ramp up our staffing at mail centres as well as at airports.”

“We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our farmers, and we owe it to all Australians to take this disease seriously.”

Biosecurity measures have been upgraded at Australian airports in order to stop FMD from entering the country. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

However, Ms Marriott is hopeful that Australians will heed the call to arms. On Sunday, she shared a plea for Australians returning to Bali to take extra precautions in order to stop the spread of the “extremely cruel” disease.

“My ask is to please wash everything that you bring back. Better still, leave your clothes and shoes over there,” she said in the video she shared on Twitter.

“Support the local economy. Buy clothes over there and leave them over there. It’s how we’re going to keep you capacity to eat beautiful Australian meat safe for future generations.”

“I believe Australian people are genuinely good. I think so often people don’t actually understand the implications, and I (wanted my video) to help educate people,” she said.