Amongst mounting fears following the detection of traces of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Melbourne earlier this week, industry leaders are urging locals to ‘calm the farm’ when it comes to inciting more stress around the issue. 

Trangie-based grazier Mick Wettenhall contributed to the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) panel on the issue earlier this week, where he said an outbreak is still far from a reality.

“Even if that meat found in Melbourne (this week) had live virus on it, it still has to make its way into a pig and that pig then has to pass it to other livestock,” Mr Wettenhall said. 

“Swill feeding is illegal in Australia and is taken very seriously by government agencies, so hopefully pig owners are aware of this and abide by the rules,” he said. 

He added that sheep and cattle are mainly infected through aerosol, so the infected meat is unlikely to be an issue. 

“Creating hysteria amongst us all definitely doesn’t help,” Mr Wettenhall said. 



Following the detection, the Federal Government has announced a $14 million biosecurity package to deliver frontline defences in airports and mail centres, along with support on the ground for Indonesia and neighbouring countries. 

Among the biosecurity measure is the introduction of sanitation foot mats to all international airports this week, which Minister for Agriculture Murray Watt said will aid in the protection against FMD transmission.

“These sanitation mats will be a physical reminder to passengers to do the right thing to limit any spread of FMD, and will be used in conjunction with our current measures, such as passenger declaration, 100 per cent profiling of all passengers entering from Indonesia, real time risk assessments, questioning and shoe cleaning,” Minister Watt said. 

Travellers arriving in Australia from Indonesia will be asked to walk across the mats to sanitise the soles of their shoes. 

The mats will contain a citric acid solution, designed to dislodge any dirt from the sole of the shoe and cover it in the acid.