Animal welfare in the 'Fast Food Nation'

David Bayvel, Director of the Animal Welfare Group in Biosecurity New Zealand, recently visited the United States as an invited speaker at the 110th meeting of the US Animal Health Association and to co-chair a meeting between the World Organisation for Animal Health and the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science.

He reports that the US meat industry prepared itself in advance for the release of Fast Food Nation, a movie about some aspects of food production. The movie is based on the book of the same name that deals with the social, health, financial and animal welfare implications of the fast food industry.

If Upton Sinclair Were Alive Today, He’d Be Amazed by the US Meat Industry is a brochure published by the American Meat Institute for the centennial of the 1906 Federal Meat Inspection Act in June this year (see www.meatami.com/Education/UptonSinclair.pdf (offsite link to www.meatami.com) ). It describes improvements in food production and safety since the publication of Sinclair’s book on the terrible conditions in Chicago factories early last century. Along with a new website www.bestfoodnation.com, it presents an industry response to the issues raised in Fast Food Nation.

David noted increased US interest in animal welfare by both industry groups and the veterinary profession. This is reflected in the increasing attention given to animal welfare in US conferences and meetings and the American Veterinary Medical Association’s recent establishment of a five-person Animal Welfare Group. The pursuit of higher animal welfare standards by legal means continues to be of particular interest in the United States, he says. For instance, lobbying by non-governmental organisations has led to regulatory changes in horse slaughter and transport by truck, the World Society for the Protection of Animals has recently appointed a UN Affairs Director to help progress the proposed international Animal Welfare Declaration, and several US producers and retailers have emerged to fill a niche for ‘animal welfare friendly’ food, with quality assurance schemes and associated labelling.

Harmonised standards for laboratory animal welfare

As indicated, the primary purpose of David’s visit to the United States was not, in fact, farm animal welfare but laboratory animal welfare. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is to take a leading international role in this area. To clarify what unique role could be played by the OIE, a joint meeting with the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) was held in Salt Lake City. The meeting was held back-to-back with the annual meeting of the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science and was attended by key international laboratory animal science organisations. As Chairman of the OIE Permanent Animal Welfare Working Group, David co-chaired the meeting along with Dr Gilles Demer, President of ICLAS. The following were identified as topics for possible OIE involvement:

  • A review of the 1986 document published by the Committee of International Organisations of Medical Science, International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals.
  • The development of guidelines for the use of animals in veterinary undergraduate teaching.
  • Work with ICLAS toward international harmonisation of laboratory animal welfare standards.
  • Liaison with the International Cooperation on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Veterinary Medicinal Products (VICH) programme to facilitate regulatory acceptance and adoption of international, validated, non-animal test methods (for more information on VICH see www.nzfsa.govt.nz/policy-law/vich/ (offsite link to www.nzfsa.govt.nz) ).
  • Expert international advice on transport of laboratory animals to ensure that the role played by these animals in research on animal disease and its diagnosis is fully recognised, and that the assessment of any zoonosis threat is both science- and risk-based.

While in the United States, David also spoke to both the International Standards and Animal Welfare Committees of the US Animal Health Association and took the opportunity to visit key animal welfare stakeholders in Washington, including the American Meat Institute, the National Turkey Federation, the World Society for the Protection of Animals, the US Department of Agriculture, Meat and Wool New Zealand’s North America Manager, Humane Farm Animal Care, Animal Agriculture Alliance, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Humane Society of the United States.

Page last updated: 30 April 2008