Experts grill concerns over meat's role in Avian Flu spread
- Replies 48
Australians have a deep-seated love for our barbecues and the sizzle of a good steak.
However, recent developments in the world of animal farming and disease may give you pause the next time you reach for that cut of meat.
A new strain of avian influenza, which has been wreaking havoc across the globe, has been linked to the industrial farming practices that supply much of our meat.
The world's appetite for meat has been growing; however, this demand has led to farming conditions that may be less than ideal.
Cramped and sometimes unsanitary conditions are unfortunately common in modern farming, and experts are now suggesting that these environments are the perfect breeding grounds for viruses to mutate into more dangerous forms.
Professor Peter Collignon, an Infectious Diseases Expert at the Australian National University and Canberra Hospital, is a meat lover himself.
However, he raised significant concerns about the industrial farming methods that stock supermarket shelves and fast-food outlets with affordable animal products.
He pointed out that the routine use of antibiotics in these settings is a red flag, indicating underlying issues with the farming practices.
‘My own view is you need to give antibiotics to animals if they're sick. But if you're having to do it routinely and feed it to 1000 animals at a time, there is a problem with your farming practice,’ Professor Collignon stated.
‘Using antibiotics to fix problems is because you need to change your methods to prevent that from happening. It could be vaccination, but it could be less crowding and changing feeding habits.’
The situation escalated to the point where last month, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) strain was reported to have spread to cows in Texas.
Collignon suspected this cross-species jump might be due to the practice, allowed in the US, of feeding cows waste from chicken sheds—a practice not permitted in Australia.
‘One of the things that worries me is in the US (United States) they are allowed to feed them litter, which is a mixture of waste from chicken. And in birds, the main way flu is spread is faecal-oral,’ Professor Collignon explained.
‘The problem now in the US is giving cows food they wouldn’t normally eat. Look at Mad Cow Disease in England, we turned cows into meat eaters—we fed them sheep.’
Peter Stevenson OBE, Chief Policy Advisor at Compassion in World Farming, had been sounding the alarm on this issue.
Nine months ago, his organization warned that avian flu was a ‘ticking time bomb’ and called for mass vaccinations of poultry and reforms in industrialized poultry and pig farming systems.
Mr Stevenson highlighted the ‘very, very strong link’ between poor animal husbandry and the emergence of zoonotic pandemics and suggested that farming is likely to have contributed to the increase and spread of HPAI.
‘In the large poultry sheds, there are a huge number of birds which are hosts for the virus. It can move very quickly amongst them, perhaps mutating as it does so,’ he explained.
‘That highly pathogenic bird flu can then get out of the poultry sheds, for example, through ventilation systems, and infect wild birds. So you’re getting a virus that’s continually evolving.’
‘At the core of it is the keeping of poultry in very crowded, stressful conditions. These are birds that are not particularly in good health. Both the egg flock and the meat flock—the broilers—have been genetically selected for either very high egg production or very fast growth rates, and this is putting a huge stress on them, so these are relatively frail birds, very vulnerable to disease,’ Mr Stevenson continued.
As concerns grow over the spread of avian flu, it's important to recognise the various factors contributing to its transmission.
While migratory birds pose a significant risk, the potential for the disease to enter Australia is compounded by other factors, including the global movement of goods and people.
This highlights the need for proactive measures to protect vulnerable bird populations in Australia, as discussed in a previous report about the threat of avian flu carried by migrating birds.
Have you changed your meat consumption habits in light of these concerns? Do you think more should be done to ensure the safety and ethics of our meat supply? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
However, recent developments in the world of animal farming and disease may give you pause the next time you reach for that cut of meat.
A new strain of avian influenza, which has been wreaking havoc across the globe, has been linked to the industrial farming practices that supply much of our meat.
The world's appetite for meat has been growing; however, this demand has led to farming conditions that may be less than ideal.
Cramped and sometimes unsanitary conditions are unfortunately common in modern farming, and experts are now suggesting that these environments are the perfect breeding grounds for viruses to mutate into more dangerous forms.
The rise in meat consumption was linked to a severe strain of avian flu affecting birds worldwide, now spreading to other animals, including humans. Credits: Shutterstock
Professor Peter Collignon, an Infectious Diseases Expert at the Australian National University and Canberra Hospital, is a meat lover himself.
However, he raised significant concerns about the industrial farming methods that stock supermarket shelves and fast-food outlets with affordable animal products.
He pointed out that the routine use of antibiotics in these settings is a red flag, indicating underlying issues with the farming practices.
‘My own view is you need to give antibiotics to animals if they're sick. But if you're having to do it routinely and feed it to 1000 animals at a time, there is a problem with your farming practice,’ Professor Collignon stated.
‘Using antibiotics to fix problems is because you need to change your methods to prevent that from happening. It could be vaccination, but it could be less crowding and changing feeding habits.’
The situation escalated to the point where last month, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) strain was reported to have spread to cows in Texas.
Collignon suspected this cross-species jump might be due to the practice, allowed in the US, of feeding cows waste from chicken sheds—a practice not permitted in Australia.
‘One of the things that worries me is in the US (United States) they are allowed to feed them litter, which is a mixture of waste from chicken. And in birds, the main way flu is spread is faecal-oral,’ Professor Collignon explained.
‘The problem now in the US is giving cows food they wouldn’t normally eat. Look at Mad Cow Disease in England, we turned cows into meat eaters—we fed them sheep.’
Peter Stevenson OBE, Chief Policy Advisor at Compassion in World Farming, had been sounding the alarm on this issue.
Nine months ago, his organization warned that avian flu was a ‘ticking time bomb’ and called for mass vaccinations of poultry and reforms in industrialized poultry and pig farming systems.
Mr Stevenson highlighted the ‘very, very strong link’ between poor animal husbandry and the emergence of zoonotic pandemics and suggested that farming is likely to have contributed to the increase and spread of HPAI.
‘In the large poultry sheds, there are a huge number of birds which are hosts for the virus. It can move very quickly amongst them, perhaps mutating as it does so,’ he explained.
‘That highly pathogenic bird flu can then get out of the poultry sheds, for example, through ventilation systems, and infect wild birds. So you’re getting a virus that’s continually evolving.’
‘At the core of it is the keeping of poultry in very crowded, stressful conditions. These are birds that are not particularly in good health. Both the egg flock and the meat flock—the broilers—have been genetically selected for either very high egg production or very fast growth rates, and this is putting a huge stress on them, so these are relatively frail birds, very vulnerable to disease,’ Mr Stevenson continued.
As concerns grow over the spread of avian flu, it's important to recognise the various factors contributing to its transmission.
While migratory birds pose a significant risk, the potential for the disease to enter Australia is compounded by other factors, including the global movement of goods and people.
This highlights the need for proactive measures to protect vulnerable bird populations in Australia, as discussed in a previous report about the threat of avian flu carried by migrating birds.
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