Biosecurity

Introduction

People don’t think of the far-reaching consequences of an action like bringing fruit illegally across the border, or of buying unmarked pigs at an auction. It might be out of innocence and ignorance that biosecurity measures are flouted, but the revenue lost can amount to billions of rand which can bring a whole sector to its knees – and threaten the livelihoods of thousands.

Biosecurity analyses and manages risks in the sectors of food safety, animal and plant life and health, including the associated environmental risk. It encompasses the policy and regulatory frameworks.

Investing in its capacity to control disease and to protect its food systems is in a country’s interest. Biosecurity is a national and regional issue.

Biosecurity and the livestock farmer

For detailed and specific information about applying biosecurity principles to your operation, consult your veterinarian or the relevant commodity/trade association e.g. the Red Meat Producers Organisation (RPO) and National Livestock Farmers Association of South Africa (NaLFA-SA).

While developing and maintaining biosecurity is difficult, it is the cheapest, most effective means of disease control available, and no disease prevention programme will work without it.

Infectious diseases can be spread between operations by:

  • the introduction of diseased cattle or healthy cattle incubating disease
  • introduction of healthy cattle who have recovered from disease but are now carriers
  • vehicles, equipment, clothing and shoes of visitors or employees who move between herds
  • contact with inanimate objects that are contaminated with disease organisms
  • carcasses of dead cattle that have not been disposed of properly
  • feedstuffs, especially high risk feedstuff which could be contaminated with faeces
  • impure water (surface drainage water, etc.)
  • manure handling and aerosolised manure and dust
  • non-livestock (horses, dogs, cats, wildlife, rodents, birds and insects)

Biosecurity has three major components: Isolation, Traffic Control, Sanitation.

  1. Isolation: The most important step in disease control is to minimise commingling and movement of cattle.
  2. Traffic control includes traffic onto your operation and traffic patterns within your operation. It is important to understand traffic includes more than vehicles. All animals and people must be considered. Animals other than cattle include dogs, cats, horses, wildlife, rodents and birds.
  3. Sanitation addresses the disinfection of materials, people and equipment entering the operation and the cleanliness of the people and equipment on the operation.
Source: adapted from Biosecurity Basics for Cattle Operations and Good Management Practices (GMP) for Controlling Infectious Diseases, published by Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension

National strategy and government contact

Biosecurity legislation includes:

  • Plant Health (Phytosanitary) Act of 2024 (Act 35 of 2024) [There is currently (March 2026) a draft Plant Health Regulations under this Act]
  • Agricultural Pests Act of 1983 (Act No. 36 of 1983)
  • The Animal Diseases Act 1984 (Act No. 35 of 1984)
  • Animal Health Act, 2002 (Act No.7 Of 2002)
  • Animal Improvement Act, 1988 (Act No. 62 of 1988)
  • Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act of 1947 (Act No. 36 of 1947)
  • Meat Safety Act of 2000 (Act No. 40 of 2000)
  • Medicines and Related Substances Control Act of 1965 (Act No. 101 of 1965)
  • Plant Improvement Act, 1973 (Act No. 53 of 1973)
  • Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Act of 1982 (Act No. 19 of 1982)
  • Border Management Authority Act, 2020 (Act No. 2 of 2020)

In February 2026 FMD was classified as a National Disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act No. 57 of 2002

Government announced a national strategy to tackle FMD, a ten-year plan setting out stages to vaccinate the country’s cattle population. South Africa resumed local production of foot and mouth disease vaccines.

In May 2026 the Routine Vaccination Scheme (RVS-FMD) was officially published in the Government Gazette under Section 10 of the Animal Diseases Act, 1984 (Act No. 35 of 1984), enabling faster, more co-ordinated action to protect livestock.

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… [T]he single biggest enabler of growth will be South Africa’s ability to manage animal disease outbreaks as well as maintain adequate biosecurity standards fit for international trade. The world over, countries with functioning animal disease management systems have consistently enjoyed market access (and higher prices), while those that lack such systems have lost markets.

Source: Bureau for Food & Agricultural Policy 2024-2033 Baseline

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Department of Agriculture

Find documents, forms, contact details for port, regional and national offices, and information on the different directorates on the website www.nda.gov.za. 

  • Directorate: Plant Health This Directorate manages all risks associated with plants and plant products to protect South African agriculture from quarantine and regulated pests. The National Plant Protection Organisation of South Africa (NPPOZA) can be reached care of this directorate.
  • Directorate: Animal Health Find the lists of contacts and information under “Food and veterinary services. This directorate controls and certifies the health status of animals/animal products for import/export, including the provision of quarantine facilities. It negotiates protocols on the import and export of animal/animal products.
  • Directorate: Veterinary Public Health State Veterinary Services sponsor the testing for certain animal diseases. Please contact your nearest State veterinarian office or Provincial office for advice (contact details on the “Animal health” page). For a detailed list of Government Veterinary Laboratories in SA visit www.nda.gov.za.
  • Directorate: Inspection Services For information on the department’s inspection services and procedures, and contact details for offices nationwide are on the website.
  • Agricultural Produce Agents Council (APAC) www.apacweb.org.za Refer to Biosecurity Rules for Livestock Agents (Gazetted 13 November 2020) – No 43900 – Board Notice 135 of 200.
  • The statutory levies for the different sectors address, amongst other issues, the health and hygiene systems in those sectors. Visit the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) website at www.namc.co.za.

 Find the list of provincial contacts for state veterinarians on the “Animal health” page.

Elsewhere on the Internet find the Food and Agricultural Import Regulation and Standards (FAIRS) Certificate Report which provides a list of the main certificates required for exporting plants, animals, and animal products to South Africa.

Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI)

  • The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the DSTI, funded the development of a point-of-care (POC) diagnostic test kit for the early detection of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in livestock that can be used in remote and rural areas. This innovation was developed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and was licensed to a start-up, TokaBio.
  • The National Biosecurity Hub was launched in 2022 in collaboration with the University of Pretoria
  • “Plant Health Consortium” and “Armyworm invasion alert” are two of the chapters in the DSTI’s Agricultural Bio-economy Innovation Partnership Programme. Read the document at www.dsti.gov.za.

Department of Health

Department of Home Affairs (DHA)

Role players

Business Listings

The following business listings are provided for informational purposes only. Agribook does not endorse or guarantee any of the listed businesses, their products, or services.

Further reference:

  • The various commodity representatives on the relevant Agribook pages (e.g. Poultry Disease Management Agency on the poultry page, South African Ostrich Business Chamber (SAOBC) on the Ostrich page etc.) – as well as associations like LWCC, RuVASA, SAVA and SAVC – are stakeholders in the National Animal Health Forum (NAHF).
  • Register on the Red Meat Industry Service (RMIS) Traceability Platform at https://rmis.co.za/rmis-traceability-platform/.  This applies to farmers, livestock owners, auction houses, abattoirs, testing stations and others. Receive live outbreak mapping, location-based WhatsApp alerts, verified intel from vets and labs, and practical guidance that turns policy into action.
  • Find Response SA in the listings – “Farmer-led. Independent. System-focused”

Training and research

  • Find details of the institutions and universities on the “Animal health” page.
  • Included in the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)-accredited qualifications are ones like “Observe and inspect animal health” and “Explain the prevention and treatment of animal diseases”. Find the Qualifications and Learning Material option at www.agriseta.co.za.

Companies

  • Animal health companies manufacture vaccines and promotes biosecurity within the continent. Find their details on the “Animal health” page.

Government

Websites and publications

  • See the websites of umbrella associations involved to find biosecurity and disease management guidelines.
  • Watch the Nation in Conversation video (2026) “FMD: one outbreak, many consequences” at www.nationinconversation.co.za.
  • For the monthly report on livestock disease trends as informally reported by veterinarians belonging to the Ruminant Veterinary Association of South Africa (RuVASA), a group of the South African Veterinary Association, see www.ruvasa.co.za.
  • Numerous Info Paks available from the Department of Agriculture are listed on our Animal health page. Examples of these publications are Foot and Mouth Disease (also available in Tsonga and Venda), Important facts you should know about FMD (also available in Tsonga and Venda), Clostridial diseases, Animal health: Cattle (bovine) tuberculosis, Poultry: Disease prevention in chickens, RABIES Guide for the Medical, Veterinary and Allied Professions etc. They can also be viewed on the Directorate Animal Health web pages at www.nda.gov.za.
  • Two further Info Paks of particular relevance to this page are “Importation of Animals and Animal Products” and “Procedures to be followed when importing plants and plant products into South Africa”. These can also be viewed at www.nda.gov.za.
  • Find the links on the Department of Agriculture Food and Veterinary Services pages at www.nda.gov.za. Under “Epidemiology” find options like include Disease Maps, Disease Status, Disease Database, Disease Reporting Forms etc.
  • The Parliamentary Monitoring Group Department of Agriculture meetings include updates on the FMD situation. Find the 9 June 2026 minutes at https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/42835
  • Visit https://croplife.co.za for FAW management protocols
  • Find the Pork 360 Consumer Assurance and Traceability Standards for Farms and other information at https://pork360.co.za.
  • Find the presentation “Monitoring biosecurity for the Grain Value chain” by Dr Marinda Visser (Grain SA) in 2017 at www.agbizgrain.co.za/uploads/documents/Events/Mini%20Symposium%202017/Marinda%20Visser,%20Grain%20SA.pdf
  • See the “Websites & publications” heading on the “Animal health” page.
  • Read about import and export procedures at www.services.gov.za.

Some articles:

International

  • African Biological Safety Association (AfBSA) – http://afbsa.org
  • The African Union Panafrican Veterinary Vaccine Centre (AU-PANVAC) functions under the Department of Rural Economy & Agriculture at the African Union. Visit https://aupanvac.org.
  • Find notes relevant to European Union biosecurity at https://food.ec.europa.eu.
  • www.eurosurveillance.org – “Europe’s journal on infectious disease epidemiology, prevention and control since 1996”
  • The UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) – www.fao.org. Under the “Themes” option find “Animal health”. Various biosecurity-related publications can be found on this website. The document The future of food and agriculture: trends and challenges, for example, sees transboundary pests and diseases as a trend. Find the document at www.fao.org/3/a-i6881e.pdf
  • Global Outbreak Alert Response Network (GOARN) operates under the World Health Organisation (WHO). See https://goarn.who.int
  • International Plant Protection Convention – www.ippc.int
  • Find out about animal health in the SADC region at www.sadc.int
  • Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee) https://ec.europa.eu/food/horizontal-topics/committees/paff-committees_en
  • World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) – www.oie.int. Documents like the PVS Gap Report: South Africa can be found here.
 

Regional Plant Protection Organisations (RPPOs):

Find details and links to RPPOs (the “IPPC Community”) at www.ippc.int/en/ippc-community/regional-plant-protection-organizations.

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