A total of C$260,000 has been allocated through Growing Forward 2 to fund research aimed at gaining better control of Brachyspira hampsonii, which causes diarrhoea and colitis in pigs and bovine genital campylobacteriosis, which can significantly reduce pregnancy rates among breeding cattle.

Brad Trost, the MP for Saskatoon Humboldt, who made the announcement in Saskatoon last week, says the commitment to addressing livestock disease reinforces Canada's reputation as a world leader in the production of safe healthy food.

Brad Trost - MP for Saskatoon Humboldt:

One of the things that is becoming more and more important throughout the world is food security and food safety.

Countries like China have food scares about their health every so often.

Often it's not necessarily disease but it's other things related like that and we want to be the first to deal with diseases.

Now, one of the problems with that is if we're always looking for something we're more likely to find it than anyone else but that adds to confidence around the world that Canada is the world leader, Canada is the best.

If Canada has a problem it doesn't sweep it under the rug.

What it does is it finds the disease, it finds a way to deal with it, be it through vaccinations or some other methods and we end up with a better product.

If you're a pork producer, now that they can find ways to test for it and hopefully we can develop a vaccine for this bacteria, what that means is when you're feeding your pigs, when you're trying to bring your pork up to weight it's quicker, it's easier, it's healthier and bottom line, that's good for you.

You're not wasting money feeding your pigs and losing the weight because your animal's sick.

Mr Trost says healthy animals means productive animals and that means Canada retains its place at the top of the world's food producers.

Further Reading

Find out more information on colitis in pigs by clicking here.