Elimination of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus in an Animal Feed Manufacturing Facility
January
Elimination of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus in an Animal Feed Manufacturing Facility
Anne R. Huss 0 1 2
Loni L. Schumacher 0 2
Roger A. Cochrane 0 2
Elizabeth Poulsen 0 2
Jianfa Bai 0 2
Jason C. Woodworth 0 2
Steve S. Dritz 0 2
Charles R. Stark 0 1 2
Cassandra K. Jones 0 2
0 a Current address: BioMatrix International, Princeton, Minnesota, United States of America ¤b Current address: Department of Veterinary Diagnostic & Production Animal Medicine, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa , United States of America
1 Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University , Manhattan , Kansas, United States of America, 2 Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, Kansas State University , Manhattan , Kansas, United States of America, 3 Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, Kansas State University , Manhattan, Kansas , United States of America
2 Editor: Jianming Qiu, University of Kansas Medical Center , UNITED STATES
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) was the first virus of wide scale concern to be linked to possible transmission by livestock feed or ingredients. Measures to exclude pathogens, prevent cross-contamination, and actively reduce the pathogenic load of feed and ingredients are being developed. However, research thus far has focused on the role of chemicals or thermal treatment to reduce the RNA in the actual feedstuffs, and has not addressed potential residual contamination within the manufacturing facility that may lead to continuous contamination of finished feeds. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the use of a standardized protocol to sanitize an animal feed manufacturing facility contaminated with PEDV. Environmental swabs were collected throughout the facility during the manufacturing of a swine diet inoculated with PEDV. To monitor facility contamination of the virus, swabs were collected at: 1) baseline prior to inoculation, 2) after production of the inoculated feed, 3) after application of a quaternary ammonium-glutaraldehyde blend cleaner, 4) after application of a sodium hypochlorite sanitizing solution, and 5) after facility heat-up to 60ÊC for 48 hours. Decontamination step, surface, type, zone and their interactions were all found to impact the quantity of detectable PEDV RNA (P < 0.05). As expected, all samples collected from equipment surfaces contained PEDV RNA after production of the contaminated feed. Additionally, the majority of samples collected from non-direct feed contact surfaces were also positive for PEDV RNA after the production of the contaminated feed, emphasizing the potential role dust plays in cross-contamination of pathogen throughout a manufacturing facility. Application of the cleaner, sanitizer, and heat were effective at reducing PEDV genomic material (P < 0.05), but did not completely eliminate it.
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Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are
within the paper.
Funding: National Pork Board - JCW - 14-273. The
funders had no role in study design, data collection
and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of
the manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared
that no competing interests exist.
Introduction
The United States swine industry has suffered dramatic losses following the emergence of
porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in May 2013. The virus is a highly contagious and deadly
coronavirus that was only observed in Asian and European swine herds prior to 2013. Due to
the high mortality rates (80±100%) in neonates, significant economic losses have been
experienced [
1, 2
]. Traditionally, transmission of PEDV occurs through the fecal-oral route within a
herd with acutely infected pigs shedding large quantities of the virus for several days after
infection. Due to the large amount of virus that can be shed by infected herds, there is potential
for the virus to contaminate facility surroundings, leading to contamination issues
off-property. Other modes of transmission, in addition to infected pigs, include fecal contamination of
animal transport vehicles, PEDV-positive aerosols, and contaminated animal feed or
ingredients [
1, 3, 4, 5, 6
]. Observations also indicate presence of PEDV genetic material in feed
transport vehicles suggesting these vehicles may be a potential vector [7].
With the confirmation of feed manufacturing related vectors for PEDV transmission, the
potential for contamination of feed manufacturing facilities with PEDV exists. Traditionally,
feed manufacturing facilities rely on good manufacturing practices, physical cleaning, removal
of feedstuff residues and dust, employee hygiene and effective pest management to control
biological hazards [
8, 9, 10, 11
]. However, these protocols have been developed based on
eliminating Salmonella or other bacteria with no information documenting the elimination of viral
contamination from feed production facilities.
Previous research has indicated that a decontamination protocol of physical cleaning with
liquid (...truncated)