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Diseases have a negative impact on the health of animals which consequently have an adverse effect on meat production. As a result of globalization and climate change the world is currently facing an unprecedented increase of emerging and re-emerging animal diseases and zoonosis (animal diseases transmissible to humans).
In 2019, 25% of the world’s pig was lost to African swine fever, an animal welfare crisis that affected the production of meat worldwide. Improving the governance of animal health systems in both the public and private sector is the most effective response to this alarming situation and all effort must be made to contain it.
There are several diseases well known to both the farmer and the consumers that are directly related to all the domestic meat species of beef, pork, lamb, and poultry.
These include but not limited to:
A lot of these infectious diseases can also manifest in food processing areas due to a lot of factors such as sanitation, personal hygiene, and meat processing from the abattoir which can promote the transmission/spread of bacteria, viruses, moulds and yeast.
The Animal Health Service within the FAO addresses four animal health related issues: Trans-boundary diseases, Vectorial diseases, Veterinary public health (including food safety) and Veterinary services.
The latter must join forces and encourage a more active participation to help in fighting diseases so as to put a limit to the reduction in the production of meat, safeguarding the health of our livestock and ultimately put an end to the transfer of diseases from livestock to humans.
Written by: Yinka Adeniyi