Understanding the vitamin supply chain and relative risk of transmission of foreign animal diseases

Abstract

The U.S. pork industry is dependent on vitamins manufactured in China because there are limited, and in some cases, there are no other country of origin options to meet industry volume demands. Initial studies have provided evidence that the African Swine Fever virus (ASFv) can survive in choline chloride, but not vitamin D3. However, it is unknown if this virus can survive in other vitamins. The risk of ASFv or other Foreign Animal Diseases (FAD) being introduced from China into the U.S. through vitamin imports appears to be low, but the impact of introduction is high. Vitamin manufacturing involves many highly technical chemical or fermentation processes that utilize commonly accepted quality control certification schemes and sanitary processes to meet human food grade, and often pharmaceutical standards in the U.S. and E.U. Although gelatin used in manufacturing vitamin A and D3 originates from pigskin, there appears to be sufficient thermal treatments used in extracting, concentrating, and sterilizing gelatin to inactivate pathogens. Some vitamin suppliers visit and audit corn cob suppliers for choline chloride production to verify that there is a killing step in corn cob carrier production. Only clean, unused, sealed containers and materials (e.g. pallets) are used for packaging and transporting vitamins to the U.S., usually under hazardous materials shipping standards due to high purity. All damaged containers and packages containing vitamins during transport are destroyed and not used in manufacturing swine feeds. Once purified vitamins arrive in the U.S., they are distributed to U.S. vitamin premix manufacturers for blending with carriers. Only carriers produced in North America are used by the U.S. vitamin premix manufacturers to minimize the risk of cross-contamination. However, there are a few unconventional brokers and traders that may import vitamins from China and market them using limited if any biosecurity and quality assurance control procedures. Obtaining vitamins and premixes from these entities increases the risk of ASFv introduction. Pork producers are responsible for selecting reputable suppliers of all feed ingredients by asking appropriate questions to avoid potential suppliers that do not follow standards of feed safety. Vitamins are unique compared to other feed ingredients because they are sensitive to high heat treatment and pH, which can substantially reduce their nutritional value if these types of virus mitigation treatments are applied.