Majority of meat industry 'incubating' next pandemic

Risk of future zoonotic diseases

Conditions at most of the world’s large meat, fish and dairy producers are said to be “incubating” future pandemics, according to a report by the FAIRR Initiative.

An assessment of the industry as part of the organisation's Emerging Disease Risk Ranking found that 63% of animal protein producers are failing to take the necessary steps to prevent future zoonotic pandemics. Jeremy Coller, chair of the FAIRR Initiative, said: "Business-as-usual animal agriculture risks incubating the next zoonotic pandemic, posing both an intolerable investment risk and a threat to global public health. The sector must improve rapidly, starting with welfare conditions for animals and workers."  FAIRR highlighted that three out of four new diseases are zoonotic ones...