As African Swine Fever plagues other countries, the U.S. works to keep it out

Al Wulfekuhle doesn’t take biosecurity lightly.

The pork producer showers before he goes into a barn and again as he leaves and asks the same of his employees. He even built a truck wash at his farm shop a year ago so he doesn’t bring any possible pathogens back from the meat processing plants where he delivers his hogs.

“It’s to try to keep our pigs healthier,” Wulfekuhle said. “It’s a big investment but it’s something we felt we needed to do.”

Wulfekuhle has 28,000 pigs spread out across 16 sites near Quasqueton in northeast Iowa. Biosecurity is top of mind for him and other pork producers after African Swine Fever, a highly contagious viral disease in pigs, was confirmed in Haiti and the Dominican Republic over the summer.

“It’s scary,” Wulfekuhle said. “It’s a huge risk to our industry.”