Assessing the biosecurity risk of uncooked whole and eviscerated barramundi and grouper in relation to exotic viruses
Research to provide data to support application for a minor use permits for chemicals including trichlorfon, chlorine, copper sulfate, hydrogen peroxide, benzylkonium chloride for control of disease including White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) in Australian prawn farms.
Testing retail commodities for the presence of Taura Syndrome Virus and Yellow head Virus I
The Australian prawn farming industry has been fortunate to remain free from many of the serious viral diseases which have decimated prawn farms internationally. It had been free from WSSV until it hit the Logan River farms in late 2016.
Pathways for movement of disease have been described through the movement of commodities destined for human consumption, such as uncooked prawns. Diversion of such commodities through use as bait or berley by anglers has the potential to generate a release pathway that could see these disease enter prawn farms via their intake of water, or through use of wild broodstock who may develop sub-clinical infections. Recent surveys have suggested that recreational angler use of supermarket origin uncooked prawns for bait has increased, even though such commodities are labelled that they are intended for human consumption only, and are specifically not to be used for bait.
Knowledge of the risks associated with uncooked prawn importations will assist the industry in contributing to the review of the Import Risk Assessment of uncooked crustacean which is currently underway. Data from this testing will also assist farmers in relation to making risk based decisions around major capital expenditure on farms to increase biosecurity and surveillance.
Final report
Assessment of Frozen Uncooked Imported Prawns for Antimicrobial-Resistant Micro-organisms of Aquaculture and Public Health Significance and residues of Ag-vet chemicals
The risk of importation of AMR into Australia via uncooked prawn commodities has not been assessed.
Given the existing pathway of dissemination of prawn commodities into waterways via disposal (berley)/use (bait) the release and establishment of AMR microbes could impact on prawn hatchery performance, where juvenile stages are particularly sensitive to bacterial diseases such as Vibriosis. Should AMR enter hatcheries via the use of wild broodstock, water or aerosol pathways it could contribute to great challenges in maintaining reliable hatchery production for the entire prawn farming sector, for it could render the currently available antimicrobials useless.
There is growing concern about the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in humans, and the pathways for its entry and establishment.
The trade of importing uncooked prawns for human consumption was temporarily suspended from early January to early July 2017 after the WSSV outbreaks on the Logan River in Queensland and import compliance breaches were identified. With this trade re-opening the pathway for potential entry of AMR on live bacteria warrants assessment.
A further pathway for generating enhanced risk of antimicrobial resistance is through allowing human consumption of commodities with sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotic and agricultural chemical residue.The Australian Prawn Farmers Association (APFA) are seeking to better understand the presence or absence of a range of chemical residues in imported prawn products. Insufficient data has been collected as part of the National Residue Survey to give industry confidence that the imported products do not pose a potential health risk to consumers, and hence do not pose a risk to the marketing and sales of prawns generally. Data is needed to inform the submission from the APFA to the review of the Commonwealth Import Risk Assessment of uncooked crustacean and Australia's food safety regulator (FSANZ).
Report
1) Presence of bacteria that were of significance to aquaculture and public health (tested at the University of Adelaide)
2) Presence of resistance to a range of antimicrobials (tested at the University of Adelaide)
3) Presence of a suite of antimicrobials and other Ag-vet chemicals (tested at Queensland Government Chemical Residue Laboratory)