Animal Welfare / Environment

Infectious diseases cause major environmental and animal welfare issues in farmed animals.

Frequently infectious diseases are controlled through the use of antibiotics. A significant proportion of antibiotics used in the treatment of animals enter the environment through excretion in faeces and urine and also through spillages during use. The application of animal wastes in agriculture allows the widespread dissemination of these antibiotics into the wider environment. Antibiotics are also found in marine sediments adjacent to farmed fish cages.

Antibiotic usage ultimately is undesirable as they select for antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacterial strains which can become disseminated within the environment. Furthermore genes mediating antibiotic resistance can spread between bacteria (horizontal gene transfer) leading to antibiotic resistant indigenous soil bacteria and consequential spread through the wider bacterial population.

This would clearly indicate that prevention of disease is better than the cure. Emergency vaccines provide a cost-effective, prophylactic measure for controlling infectious diseases which can eliminate the need for or significantly reduce antibiotic usage. We, like the Soil Association, feel this should be the aim of all food production systems. Though the Soil Association does not permit the routine use of antibiotics and vaccines, certain products, including emergency vaccines are allowed for use in the face of outbreaks of disease.

Our vaccines are used by Freedom Food accredited producers as part of their strategy to maintain animal health and welfare.

For more information see: Freedom Foods and the Soil Association