Food and mouth threat: Mats to be rolled out in Australia’s international airports
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has hit back at claims he’s been slow to act to keep foot and mouth disease from infiltrating Australia’s borders.
It was revealed yesterday viral fragments were detected in undeclared meat products imported from China that were being sold in a Melbourne CBD supermarket.
More viral fragments were picked up in undeclared beef at Adelaide Airport.
Senator Watt said the viral fragments were likely dead and it was important to note Australia the virus was not live in Australia.
“We certainly don’t have any plans to shut our borders to Indonesia or to any of the other countries that already have foot and mouth disease,” he told Peter Fegan on Brisbane Live.
He also revealed sanitation foot mats will be rolled out in Australia’s international airports in the coming days.
Senator Watt says his department has moved “very quickly” to get the mats to Australia, which shoes potentially carrying the virus.
It’s expected they will be rolled out in Darwin and Cairns first.
“I expect to see them in some airports potentially even by the end of this week,” he said.
“The plan is to basically put them in to every international airport in Australia, and the intention is to put them at the gates where we have inbound flights from Indonesia.”
Press PLAY below to hear how the mats work
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