Description
Summary:This book focuses on food safety issues and discusses how livestock production may affect human health in general. Chapter 1 of this book describes the transformation of the food supply from a local activity to a global activity, and the problems with food safety that globalization brings. Chapter 2 gives a reasonably comprehensive list of zoonoses that are, and are likely to be in the future, high on the list of important pathogens. Manure, the subject of Chapter 3, has always been a concern because it is one of the most important sources of disease to humans, but a less well-studied source of zoonoses in the food supply is the actual feed that comes on to or leaves a farm (Chapter 4). In the past, pasteurization had a critical role in making the milk supply safe for humans, but more recently there has been a trend towards the use of raw (non-pasteurized) milk (Chapter 5), partly because of a public concern with the use of antimicrobials in the food production system and the potential implications of this for human health (Chapter 6). As a result of these new challenges in securing the food supply, a number of on-farm mitigation strategies have been developed (Chapter 7). Organic agriculture has become popular partly because of the concerns raised by antibiotics in food production, and some regard organic production as a mitigation strategy for food safety in general (Chapter 8). However, food safety is a dynamic area, and mitigation strategies will be updated in the light of new threats to human health such as avian (and swine) influenza (Chapter 9), and Crohn's disease in humans (Chapter 10). The last chapter (Chapter 11) is a very interesting case study that illustrates what happens when a human disease threat posed by animal agriculture becomes public. This chapter examines the course of events and the policy development surrounding the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the UK, with some comparative data from North America also included.
Physical Description:1 online resource (xii, 242 pages) : illustrations, charts
Also available in print format.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access:Access limited to subscribing institution.