Food safety and animal production systems: controlling zoonoses at farm level

Controlling zoonotic agents in animal and poultry reservoirs has the effect of reducing the challenge to food safety management systems in processing and further along the food chain. Producing and maintaining healthy stock requires good husbandry practices, which include stock selection and veterinary attention. Feed is a key input, both as a source of pathogen-free nutrients and as a balanced dietto maintain healthy livestock. Safe water, appropriate vermin and wildlife control and an optimum environment to reduce stress are important if animals are to perform. Farms are not sterile environments and initiatives to reduce the zoonotic hazards have to be practical, economically feasible and flexible, depending on the scale of the enterprise, the species being farmed, and the epidemiology of the zoonotic agents in the particular geographical region. Education of farmers and stockmen is crucial to successful on-farm control of zoonoses, as an understanding of why control measures are necessary, and how they can be applied, will improve compliance with protocols and procedures. This understanding is a first step towards the implementation of a longitudinal integrated food safety assurance approach to zoonosis control in the pre-harvest phase of the food chain.