Producers and lawmakers have concerns about the mandatory Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus reporting announced by USDA. Iowa Pork President Jamie Schmidt of Garner agrees with Congressman Steve King in having confidentiality concerns. He says those can be alleviated if only ID numbers are required in reporting.
Congressman King is concerned that if confidentiality is breached, animal activists will use that to hurt pork producers. Schmidt says about the only defense producers have now with this widespread disease is to continue practicing good bio security and trying to track it.
The current submission requirements for reporting PED virus includes the herd’s premises ID number, the date the sample was collected, the type of farm, the test method used for diagnosis and the diagnostic test results, only if the herd is reported positive.