Foreign animal diseases. such as classical swine fever, foot and mouth disease and African swine fever, could make an enormous impact on the United States if they gained a foothold here, experts said at the Iowa Pork Congress in Des Moines recently.

In a study funded by the National Pork Board, Iowa State University (ISU) economist Dermot Hayes estimated that FMD alone would create a financial impact of $200 billion over 10 years.

Associated mostly with cattle and hogs, foot and mouth dis­­ease (FMD) is a highly...