Alberta Pork says every pig matters when it comes to minimizing the risk of a disease outbreak.

With recent cases of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) virus confirmed in Alberta this year and the potential for African Swine Fever, the group is reminding people to get registered as a producer through Alberta Pork no matter how many pigs you have, whether they're a pet or food production animals.

Communications Programs Coordinator, Andrew Heck, says not having everyone registered is a traceability concern.

"If we have even a small gap in terms of this data about who's registered and our pig movements, that creates a vulnerability in terms of disease outbreak investigations."

The organization is also reminding producers any pig leaving the premise needs to be recorded on a swine manifest submitted to Alberta Pork within 48 hours.

Alberta Pork Traceability Coordinator, Christina Carley, says it's important they know the location of the animals.

"It's important for us to understand which PID's (Premise Identification number) are involved in those transactions... If there is an outbreak, how they related back to that risk factor."

Carley says since starting the traceability initiative in 2014, they've had over 500 small scale producers register in Alberta, with more registrations still rolling in.

 Registration is free, and forms can be found at www.albertapork.com.