Swill feeding
Summary
Swill feeding is the traditional name for the feeding of food scraps to pigs. This practice has caused foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks overseas, including the catastrophic epidemic in the United Kingdom in 2001. Some food substances have been categorised as prohibited pig feed ('swill') and it is illegal to feed them to pigs in Australia.
Topics include:
- What is swill feeding?
- What food substances are considered swill?
- Are there any food substances that are not considered swill?
- Why all the fuss over swill feeding?
- Are you in the food business?
- How do I report swill feeding to authorities?
More information on biosecurity procedure, Prohibited pig feed (PDF, 1849.95 KB).
Do NOT feed swill to your pigs
Swill feeding is illegal in Australia
This means that it is illegal to feed food waste containing meat or other mammalian by-products to pigs.
Swill may contain serious exotic diseases that could devastate our livestock industries and stop our meat products being exported.
Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline: 1800 675 888
How does swill feeding cause disease in pigs?
Step 1: Infected stock are processed into meat products overseas
Step 2: Infected meat or meat products may be illegally imported into Australia undetected by quarantine
Step 3: Food scraps containing infected meat or meat products are illegally fed to pigs
Step 4: Pigs become infected with a serious exotic disease such as African swine fever
Step 5: Disease spreads quickly to other pigs by pig movements and infected materials
