Biosecurity is one of the most important aspects of a successful livestock enterprise, with a growing number of threats in the form of viral disease outbreaks or the potential for foreign animal disease incursion. Technologies to help producers in the fight are proliferating, including a new app to help producers, veterinarians, and public health officials share information as quickly as possible.

Gustavo Machado is an epidemiologist specializing in emerging and transboundary infectious diseases at North Carolina State University. At the North American PRRS Symposium held earlier this month in Chicago, Machado sat down with National Hog Farmer editor Ann Hess to discuss the Rapid Biosecurity App, a tool that standardizes Secure Pork Supply biosecurity plans and creates maps to visualize the biosecurity infrastructure of individual farms across multiple states. 

According to Dr. Macado, in each state, the RABapp provides the pork producer and Department of Agriculture with rapid access to approved biosecurity plans status to expedite outbreak responses.