by Merridy Rankin, AgraPoint Emergency Response Plan Co-ordinator

Emerging disease issues, foreign animal diseases and disaster planning are mentioned more and more frequently in the agricultural industry these days.

Both the pork and poultry industries have been listening.  They have taken heed to protect their industries very seriously and have recognized the need to have due diligence. The industries, in partnership with AgraPoint, have taken the lead in creating two new committees: the Pork Nova Scotia Emergency Response Planning Committee and the Poultry Emergency Response Planning Committee.

The committees are comprised of producers, commodity board representatives, industry veterinarians, processors, industry stakeholder representatives and representatives from the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture(NSDA), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and AgraPoint.  These committees have developed detailed emergency response plans (EFPs) and resource manuals for their respective industries. The emergency response plans provide the industries with a solid strategic plan for their response to an animal health emergency.

 In Canada, the CFIA is responsible for the monitoring, control and eradication of foreign animal diseases (FAD) under the Federal Health of Animals Act. However, the effective control and eradication of a FAD requires the resources and cooperation of the industry and industry stakeholders as well as various provincial government departments and local municipal governments.

The CFIA has recently developed an agreement with the NSDA called the Foreign Animal Disease Emergency Support (FADES) plan which outlines the responsibilities of the federal and provincial governments during a FAD outbreak. The FADES agreement provides for necessary resources for the CFIA once they become the lead agency in a FAD outbreak.

The pork and poultry ERPs will cover the period between early suspicion of a disease outbreak and the CFIA’s response.  It is during this period - the very early stages of the suspicion of disease outbreak that the industry must have an organized, immediate response.

The underlying premise of the emergency response plans is the immediate industry reaction to a suspected disease outbreak. In both the pork and poultry ERPs, the industry has voluntarily accepted the responsibility to reduce or stop any potential spread of a disease through industry due diligence with measures such as producer self-quarantine, enhanced biosecurity on farm and stop movement orders as soon as a disease outbreak is suspected. These measures are considered an investment by the industry to reduce or eliminate the further spread of the disease and they stay in place until the situation is resolved or the CFIA enforces other measures.

A key component of the ERP is the identification of an industry Emergency Management Team that will be the lead in a FAD emergency until the CFIA becomes the lead agency as per their regulations. The industry emergency management teams will make decisions to protect the industry as a whole, reduce the losses incurred and the overall industry down time due to a disease threat. Once the CFIA has taken the lead role in a FAD outbreak, the industry Emergency Management Team will work cooperatively with the CFIA to provide industry information and make recommendations regarding industry issues.

The development of emergency response plans and resource manuals is one aspect of the plan. The plans must also be tested to ensure they are comprehensive and to ensure everyone involved understands their role and responsibilities during an emergency.

The Pork Emergency Response Planning Committee held an enhanced table top test last fall involving components of a table top test and a live simulation involving producers, the industry EMT and the NSDA. The Poultry Emergency Response Planning Committee tested the communications aspect of their plan during a table top test this spring and held a second table top test on product flow last fall. 

Pork producers and stakeholders will be given Pork NS ERP Reference Manuals this spring. Poultry producers and industry stakeholders have been provided with a Resource Manual that provides the specific information needed by these sectors during a poultry disease outbreak.

A thank you to Agri-Futures Nova Scotia and the Canadian Animal Health Coalition for their financial support of the Pork Nova Scotia Emergency Response Project and the Poultry Emergency Response Planning Committee.

For more information about these emergency response plans, please contact Merridy Rankin, AgraPoint ERP Coordinator ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Henry Vissers, Pork NS for information on the Pork NS ERP ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and Alex Oderkirk, AgraPoint ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) for information on the Poultry ERP.