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Report Explores Animal Health, Food Safety Linkages

A commentary released by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology analyzes how proposed changes in livestock production practices might affect food safety and public health. These changes include modification of stocking densities, limitations on antimicrobial use and requirements for outdoor “experiences.”

Modern livestock production practices, which provide precision nutrition, decrease the spread of disease and reduce animals’ contact with manure, promote animal health and food safety, according to the report.

“The improved hygiene of swine production systems, which occurred with the transition from low-management outdoor production to more intensely managed indoor systems, is primarily responsible for the sharp reduction in Trichinella spiralis-infected pigs in the United States,” the report says. “This is a very significant public health improvement.”

Scott Hurd of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University chaired the task force that authored the CAST commentary, which also said that housing livestock indoors provides advantages in managing foodborne organisms such as campylobacter and salmonella. However, improvements in animal production systems must not come at the expense of animal welfare, according to the commentary, and more research is needed to identify food animal production practices that protect human health while meeting public expectations.

CAST Commentary