Veterinary public health

Veterinary public health (VPH) is a component of public health that focuses on the application of veterinary science to protect and improve the physical, mental and social well-being of humans.

Conventionally veterinary public health as a topic covers the following areas:

It is desirable to consider food production as a chain, with animals reared on the farm (pre-harvest) then going for primary processing (harvest), secondary processing and distribution followed by final preparation (all post-harvest). This "farm to fork" concept can be easily described by considering a beef animal on a farm going to slaughter at the abattoir, then the hamburger production plant, then being distributed to a supermarket. The hamburger is then sold, taken home, stored, cooked and eaten.

Veterinary public health concerns all aspects of food production chain from controlling epidemic diseases that may impact on agriculture, to ensuring slaughter is conducted safely and humanely, to informing the public on safe ways to store and cook hamburgers.

A zoonosis may be defined as any disease and/or infection which is naturally transmissible between animals and man.

They are a major public concern. Headlines on issues like avian influenza, BSE (mad cow disease) and salmonella of eggs have dominated the UK newspaper headlines for the last thirty years.

The picture in developed and developing countries may be quite different as far as zoonoses are concerned. In developed countries the consumer has very little contact with the live animal, limiting transmission from live animals to the general public. In addition food safety is extremely regulated. Despite this food borne disease is still a big problem in developed countries. In the EU in 2006, a total of 175,561 confirmed cases of campylobacteriosis were reported from 21 member states and reported cases will only represent the tip of the iceberg.

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