Prohibited Pig Feed Compliance and Awareness

The Agricultural Ministers Forum (AGMIN) endorsed the national definition of Prohibited Pig Feed in June 2014.

Animal Health Committee (AHC) and SAFEMEAT endorsed two changes to the exemption clause (ii) (re provenance and increased temperature in part (2)) in 2020.

Prohibited pig feed means material of mammalian origin, or any substance that has come in contact with this material, but does not include:

(i) Milk, milk products or milk by-products either of Australian provenance or legally imported for stockfeed use into Australia.

(ii)  Material containing flesh, bones, blood, offal or mammal carcases which is treated by an approved process¹.

(iii) A carcass or part of a domestic pig, born and raised on the property on which the pig or pigs that are administered the part are held, that is administered for therapeutic purposes in accordance with the written instructions of a veterinary practitioner.

(iv) Material used under an individual and defined-period permit issued by a jurisdiction for the purposes of research or baiting.

¹In terms of (ii), approved processes are:

1. rendering in accordance with the ‘Australian Standard for the Hygienic Rendering of Animal Products’
2. under jurisdictional permit, cooking processes subject to compliance verification that ensure that a core temperature of at least 100^oC for a minimum of 30 minutes, or equivalent, has been reached.
3. treatment of cooking oil, which has been used for cooking in Australia, in accordance with the ‘National Standard for Recycling of Used Cooking Fats and Oils intended for Animal Feeds’
4. under jurisdictional permit, any other nationally agreed process approved by AHC for which an acceptable risk assessment has been undertaken and that is subject to compliance verification.

The national definition is a minimum standard. Some jurisdictions have additional conditions for swill feeding that pig producers in those jurisdictions must comply with, over and above the requirements of the national definition.

FEEDING PROHIBITED PIG FEED  

Feeding prohibited pig feed includes:

• Feeding or allowing or directing another person to feed prohibited pig feed to a pig
• Allowing a pig to have access to prohibited pig feed
• The collection and storage or possession of prohibited pig feed on a premises where one or more pigs are kept
• Supplying to another person prohibited pig feed that the supplier knows is for feeding to any pig.

Food products that can’t be fed to pigs and are prohibited are:

• pies, sausage rolls, bacon and cheese rolls, pizza, deli meats, table scraps, etc.
• household, commercial or industrial waste including restaurant food and discarded cooking oils
• anything that has been in contact with prohibited pig feed via collection, storage or transport in contaminated containers (such as meat trays and take-away food containers).

Food products that are can be fed to pigs and are not prohibited are:

• milk, milk products and milk by-products either of Australian origin or legally imported into Australia for stockfeed use
• eggs
• dry meal made from meat, blood or bone (processed by commercial hot rendering and purchased from a reputable produce store or feed merchant)
• non-meat bakery food substances
• fruit, vegetables and cereals.

A detailed list of foods that are prohibited to feed to pigs in Australia can be found on your state government websites or you can download Australia Pork Limited’s Swill Feeding Fact Sheet.