Swill feeding

What is swill feeding and why is it an important issue?

By Bronwyn Burns - Senior Biosecurity Officer

Swill feeding is the term used to describe the offering of food waste material to pigs.  This includes items such as animal carcases, meat scraps, offal, blood and bones, but also any product that may have come into contact with meat during processing including cooking oils, many vegetables and fruit, and most bakery items.

The feeding of swill (also known as prohibited pig feed) to pigs is well recognised as a significant risk factor for the introduction and spread of many emergency animal diseases (EADs), particularly those caused by certain viruses, including foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and African and Classical swine fevers. Australia is currently free of these diseases, but food waste containing these pathogens may be illegally imported into Australia, undetected by quarantine.

For this reason, it is illegal to feed swill to pigs in all states & territories of Australia. These rules apply to all pigs including pet pigs, commercially grown pigs and pigs raised for your own consumption.

An outbreak of any of these emergency animal diseases in Australia could severely damage our livestock and associated industries and have devastating consequences for producers and communities.

We all play a vital role in reducing the risk of introducing these serious diseases.

If you have a pet pig, do not feed it meat or meat associated product.  Look for quality assured feed and ask your feed supplier for a vendor declaration.

If you work in the food industry, make sure your food waste material is disposed of in an appropriate manner and is not available as food for livestock or pigs.

Council staff and rural landholders need to ensure that rubbish dumps and tip sites are securely fenced off to exclude feral pigs from accessing food waste in landfill. If an emergency animal disease were to establish in feral pig populations in Australia, its eradication would be extremely difficult.

Significant penalties apply for people convicted of supplying and/or feeding prohibited pig feed (swill) to pigs.