Infectious Diseases and Meat Production

Abstract

Most infectious diseases in humans originate from animals. In this paper, we explore the role of animal farming and meat consumption in the emergence and amplification of infectious diseases. First, we discuss how meat production increases epidemic risks, either directly through increased contact with wild and farmed animals or indirectly through its impact on the environment (e.g., biodiversity loss, water use, climate change). Traditional food systems such as bushmeat and backyard farming increase the risks of disease transmission from wild animals, while intensive farming amplifies the impact of the disease due to the high density, genetic proximity, increased immunodeficiency, and live transport of farmed animals. Second, we describe the various direct and indirect costs of animal-based infectious diseases, and in particular, how these diseases can negatively impact the economy and the environment. Last, we discuss policies to reduce the social costs of infectious diseases. While existing regulatory frameworks such as the "One Health" approach focus on increasing farms' biosecurity and emergency preparedness, we emphasize the need to better align stakeholders' incentives and to reduce meat consumption. We discuss in particular the implementation of a "zoonotic" Pigouvian tax, and innovations such as insect-based food or cultured meat.

Keywords: Biodiversity; Infectious diseases; Intensive farming; Meat consumption; Meat production; Prevention; Regulation; Taxation.

Fig. 1

Impact of meat consumption and production on infectious disease risks. Semi-intensive/extensive farming shares features of the backyard and the intensive farming methods

Fig. 2

Classification of the cost of infectious diseases

Fig. 3

Proportion of extensively raised chickens (a) and pigs (b) from Gilbert et al. (2015). Each dot represents a country with the size indicative of their stock of animals. The chicken extensive system follows FAO’s sector 4 definition (village or backyard production with minimal biosecurity), while pig extensive system is characterized as usually unconfined, with typically < 10 pigs, with low biosecurity with little or no health care. The complementary percentage (1-proportion of extensively raised) represents the proportion of animals raised in intensive systems for chickens, and the proportion of animals raised in intensive and semi-intensive systems for pigs