Iowa FAST Egg Plan introduced

At the 2010 North Central Avian Disease Conference, Daryl W. Trampel of the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reviewed the Federal and State Transport Plan for Movement of Egg Products, or the FAST Egg Plan, which was introduced on April 1, 2010, in Iowa. The purpose of this initiative is to allow, in the event of a disease emergency, egg production units with high levels of biosecurity and free of catastrophic disease to ship eggs to market under intensified surveillance.
The plan would include minimum biosecurity standards, location verification using GPS, an active surveillance program using real-time PCR to detect exotic Newcastle disease or highly pathogenic avian influenza, and assurance that the designated unit has no direct or indirect epidemiologic contact with an affected farm. The incident commander will apply an analysis algorithm providing a geospatial risk estimate to decide whether to allow farms within a quarantined area to ship washed eggs. The FAST Egg Plan could serve as the model for a national program.