The spread of H5N1 Bird Flu, or HPAI, and its ability to infect livestock and other mammals, including humans, means that clean trucks aren't just about looking good and reducing salt damage. Taking consistent biosecurity measures means reducing the risk of spreading the disease. And it comes with the extra benefit of potentially increasing your team’s safety.

Bird flu isn't the only disease riding along in your trailer. Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, or PRRS, costs the U.S. swine industry an estimated $1.2 billion a year, up from $664 million a decade ago.

Crop diseases spread the same way: broomrape seeds and citrus canker bacteria hitch rides on tires and equipment moving between fields and groves. None of these started in a truck, but vehicles moving between farms, mills, groves and processing sites are a documented way each one spreads from one operation to the next."

Let's look at how an automated fleet cleaning and disinfection system continues to be a smart choice for fleet managers working to keep both threats off their trucks.

Why clean trucks matter

Think about all the places a truck travels in one week. How often will it pick up and drop off feed, produce, or other deliveries before it sees a wash? USDA research has found a higher risk of farm infection when delivery and rendering trucks come near barns without being cleaned between stops.

That risk is why biosecurity is important. It reduces risk long before it reaches your gate.

Real numbers make this concrete. In early 2025, an Illinois family lost their entire 3,000-hen farm to a single outbreak. Their compensation for the surviving hens came to $2,500, a small fraction of the $100,000 in revenue they expected that year. Dairy farms have their own math: one study found herds averaging $950 in losses for every cow affected by HPAI, and a separate case study put the total cost to a 500-cow herd at just over $79,000 over four months, with milk loss making up the largest share.

None of these losses started because a farm skipped cleaning. But every one of them is a reminder that once a disease is on your site, the cost is real and it moves fast. Reducing how much disease-carrying material rides in on a vehicle is one of the few parts of the risk you can actually control.

What are biosecurity measures? 

Biosecurity is the steps an organization takes to protect against the further spread of pathogens. What is biosecurity in the context of trucking? Examples of biosecurity measures include:

• Using water or soaps to remove any dirt and grime that can carry diseased particles or block the sanitizer from making direct contact with the surface.
• Using sanitizer to kill harmful bacteria, viruses, or fungi that can spread disease to other animals, plants, or humans.
• Keeping detailed records of when the truck was last cleaned and/or sanitized and when the next scheduled clean is.

Most transportation fleets don't regularly follow a strict set of sanitizing rules. That gap is what leads to trade restrictions and lost revenue, not bad luck.

The problems with hand-washing

Hand-washing trucks with pressure washers or pump-up sprayers can seem like the easy answer. In practice, it can cost more time and energy than it's worth, and for sanitation and disease prevention specifically, the shortfalls show up fast.

• Employees get tired or bored and rush the process. They miss spots that could contain pathogens, increasing the risk for the entire facility.
• Some areas on these vehicles are difficult to reach, even for the most agile employees.
• It's hard to prove the job was done to standard when there's no consistent process and different employees doing the work.

Hand-washing can still make sense for a smaller fleet or a route with fewer high-risk stops. The math changes once you're washing enough vehicles, or hauling into enough biosecurity-sensitive sites, that consistency starts to matter more than flexibility.

How automated truck wash systems handle biosecurity cleaning:

Automated Truck Wash Systems are similar to a drive-through car wash you use for your daily driver. But they are much larger and more powerful to accommodate the largest trucks. They can also be touchless, adjusting to different vehicle shapes without scratching mirrors, paint, or logos.  

Consistent cleans

Automated systems don't get tired or skip steps to move faster. This equipment washes your trucks with the same thoroughness every single time. There's no wondering whether your crew missed a spot doing it by hand, or if they cleaned the undercarriage. 

Better coverage

Angled nozzles help ensure nearly every inch of your truck is cleaned and disinfected from harmful pathogens. Places like the undercarriage and inside the wheel wells are taken care of, so you can worry less about transporting germs to the next stop on your route.

The undercarriages of trucks are often almost completely ignored with hand-washing, but with an automated system, they're specifically targeted. The trailer and main truck components get a full wash, rinse, and sanitizer pass.

Saves time & money

You can have your employees work on higher-value tasks instead of inefficiently washing big trucks.

You'll also find savings on soap and sanitizer products. The automated system dispenses a consistent amount of cleaning agent for each wash cycle. Most systems will also keep track of exactly how many products are used, so you can spend less time managing the inventory of your cleaning supplies.

The automated wash can often be used as a full wash system, or the end user can choose a "sanitizer-only" option. If the vehicle is already clean, that option saves time and chemical cost by skipping straight to sanitizing and disinfecting.

What’s next? 

Large-scale food production and transportation isn't slowing down. That's not a reason to worry. It's a reason to build biosecurity into your normal routine instead of reacting to it after the next outbreak makes headlines.

Bird flu and PRRS won't be the last diseases to test a fleet's biosecurity. What stays the same is the fix: fewer pathogens riding along on a dirty vehicle means fewer chances for disease to spread between the places you serve.

If you're ready to see what consistent, disease-conscious washing looks like for your fleet, watch our biosecurity cleaning solutions in action.