Source: APC Inc.
As the number of cases of African swine fever continue to increase across China and beyond, the North American Spray Dried Blood and Plasma Producers and the European Animal Protein Association are reiterating that commercial spray-dried blood products are safe ingredients for use in animal feed. The associations have prepared a joint statement, informing global customers and industry partners of the biosafety steps involved in manufacturing safe and effective feed ingredients derived from blood.

Spray-dried porcine plasma is used globally in feed to enhance weaned pig performance and can be used to significantly reduce mortality and medical treatments of nursery and grow finish pigs. The heat treatment of 80 C throughout the substance of meat and dairy proteins is recognized to inactivate many viruses including foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever, swine vesicular disease, African swine fever, avian influenza, Newcastle disease, rinderpest and sheep and goat plague.

The World Health Organization recognizes that a reduction of four logarithms (logs) of virus assures viral safety of human plasma products used for transfusions. Inactivation means that the virus is killed or not capable of replicating. Four logs of virus inactivation is equivalent to inactivating 99.99% of a virus.

The spray-drying processes used by NASDBPP and EAPA members for spray drying blood products are aligned with the WHO guidelines, providing several independent safety features that assure that the final products are safe from pathogens of concern for the swine industry, including ASF virus. 

To further illustrate the biosafety measures in place, APC Inc. has made a video recording available outlining the steps involved in manufacturing their blood-derived products for use in animal feeds.