Defra suspends approval of several major farm disinfectants
© Tim Scrivener Farmers have been warned to stop using disinfectant that may not be fit for purpose after several commonly used products, including FAM30, were suspended from Defra’s approved list.
A briefing note from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha) outlined which disinfectants had been suspended, but there is yet to be any indication as to why.
- FAM 30 suspended from the approved disinfectant list for tuberculosis order and diseases of poultry order
- Virkon LSP suspended from for general orders, diseases of poultry order and the tuberculosis order
- Novagen F.P suspended from the approved disinfectant list for the tuberculosis order
See also: Health and safety policy: What farmers need to include
Apha said that, while suspended, these disinfectants must not be used for statutory control purposes relevant to that specific order.
Trading Standards has reported to Farmers Weekly that these disinfectants are used by lots of farmers for bovine TB and avian influenza protection and they are seeing lots of people unknowingly still using them.
A statement from the NFU said: “If there is a notifiable disease outbreak on your farm, by law you must use a Defra-approved disinfectant at the correct concentration and dilution rate for the specific disease.”
A full list of approved disinfectants is available on the Defra website.