Food Supply Veterinary Medicine: Creating an Awareness of Livestock Security Risks

There is growing recognition of a need to redefine traditional food animal veterinary medicine, not only from the standpoint of the skills, knowledge, and abilities required of veterinarians but also from the standpoint of the organizational structures, delivery teams, new breadth of roles, and geographic scope. In the 1970s and 1980s, when we began to practice production medicine, the delivery team included decision makers for the production unit: veterinarians, producers, lenders, nutritionists, animal breeders, and agricultural engineers. Strategies and approaches were geared toward health, welfare, and enterprise productivity. Today, the delivery team includes a broader set of decision makers: appointed and elected government officials, regulatory and law enforcement officials, homeland security advisors, emergency managers, public health practitioners, and CEOs of the biological and pharmaceutical industry. Strategies and approaches are geared toward assuring the health and welfare of animals in multiple livestock industries, protecting the food supply, retaining international markets, and maintaining consumer confidence. This issue of the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education addresses the theme of a changing food animal practitioner, with the area now more appropriately termed “food supply veterinary medicine” in recognition of the expanded role of the veterinary practitioner.1 Several articles in this issue address the need for new directions in health care delivery by species, by livestock industry, and by the full scope of responsibilities for both animal and human health. Others address the need to restructure food animal medicine clinical experiences. This article takes a somewhat different approach, addressing needs and a potential response from a geographic viewpoint. Academic institutions, academic veterinarians, and veterinary students are a critically underutilized resource in meeting global needs for livestock security. While governments ponder complex decisions under a blizzard of conflicting information, non-governmental organizations may find themselves with adequate funding but limited human resources and limited expertise, and people in need go on wanting. Our academic resources need to become formally involved. An effective mechanism to inform educators about the future needs of the profession, adjust academic curricula, and develop a strategy to better utilize our significant academic resources must be identified immediately. “Food animal medicine” has now appropriately expanded into “food supply veterinary medicine.” The issues considered include livestock health and production, product wholesomeness, and distribution and availability of products to meet the needs of global consumers. These issues suggest the need for a comprehensive approach encompassing a vast industry. As veterinarians, we find ourselves employed across all sectors, and we should be a valuable guiding and connecting resource in this food chain. Additional areas of growing importance are bio-security and policy surrounding transboundary, emerging, and bioterrorism-related disease (TEB diseases). Many of the concepts we apply to all three are very similar. The following sections of this article reflect critical considerations toward a hemispheric approach to protection of livestock resources and foods of animal origin. We begin by thinking locally, then nationally, then regionally, and discuss a broad network solution. There is a critical need to consider the role of veterinary education in preparing food supply veterinarians for the future. Dr. Corrie Brown initiates our thinking by focusing on what is needed for early diagnosis and rapid response to a TEB disease; very significant veterinary roles exist at the local level. Dr. Pamela Ibarra reflects on her experiences in Mexico in describing the nature of national responses to protect livestock resources. Dr. Luis Espinoza describes the leadership and projects that are part of the programs of the Organismo Internacional Regional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (OIRSA), a regional animal health organization in Central America. Dr. Everardo Gonzalez Padilla summarizes the perceived needs and discusses a possible network solution. Glenn Slack then issues a challenge to academic veterinary medicine to ensure that the attributes of graduating veterinarians match the needs of society. In an environment of global travel and trade, asymmetric warfare targeting agricultural resources, and rapidly increasing worldwide human populations, hunger, and poverty, the veterinary profession must respond. The profession will look for leaders, and institutions of veterinary education must be among them. THE IMPACT OF EARLY DIAGNOSIS (CORRIE BROWN) A rapid response is required to avoid economic devastation resulting from TEB diseases of animals. However, response mechanisms cannot be activated until the presence of disease is detected. Therefore, early diagnosis is critical. This early diagnosis requires three factors: recognition that there is a disease in the field, sufficient laboratory capacity, and a government with the will to be involved.

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