Why we must rethink our current food practices to prevent future pandemics

As a vegan doctor, I am mentally preparing myself for the next pandemic that we will be able to attribute to factory farming.

Instead of running a medical clinic in the jungle with the conservation group Operation Wallacea in 2020 during what was supposed to be a year out to mentally recover from the challenges of junior doctor training, I was thrown in to the madness that is the Coronavirus pandemic in UK emergency departments.

We had to make difficult decisions about who was admitted to hospital, who we sent home, and how we could best ration resources and personal protective equipment. We are still struggling the long-term repercussions of the pandemic; financially, socially and even physically for so many patients and staff alike. 

Hospitals were short-staffed and underfunded before COVID-19 hit, and this pandemic has taken an enormous toll on the NHS, with an ever-growing backlog of surgeries and appointments. Many of my friends and colleagues are still suffering from psychiatric issues triggered by the period of isolation and uncertainty.

The COVID period cemented my drive to move into a career in humanitarian and conservation medicine. And as Hippocrates, renowned as ‘the father of medicine’ famously stated, ‘Let food be thy medicine’ – so what more simple and fundamental place to start activism than with our plates?

The link between eating animals and pandemics

The Coronavirus crisis has really been eye-opening with regards to our societal attitude towards what we eat, and how we consume it. I have a strong interest in nutrition, and the food systems on both an individual and global health level.

This pandemic exposed massive breaches in the illicit wildlife trade, with reports of wolf, koala, crocodile and other exotic and endangered animals on the menu at Asian meat markets.

Although still highly debated and very controversial, genome sequencing suggested that the current COVID-19 pandemic may have originated from humans eating pangolins- which are critically endangered- that have consumed infected bats.

I learnt that bats are a very common source of viruses. SARS and Ebola have also been traced back to consumption of these creatures which have fascinatingly strong immune systems. The global repercussions of this illegal wildlife trade are now obvious, with many species facing extinction and further outbreaks posing regular and real threats.

The estimated death toll of the COVID pandemic is at almost 7 million¹. We cannot, however, just assume that this illegal animal trade is alien to Western societies. There is mounting evidence that multiple wet markets exist in even California and New York, with recent petitions to have them closed going viral (excuse the pun.)

Economically we are on the brink of a global recession, with stock markets collapsing and international trade severely hindered.

We know that viral diseases such as AIDS likely arose from eating monkeys, and MERS from close contact or consumption of camels. Unregulated and untested food markets will continue to spread diseases until proper regulation of the meat industry is enforced.

With increasing ease of travel, international connectivity and globalisation, this is not just an internal issue that we can turn a blind eye to, but a pertinent matter of global health.

Antibiotic resistance – a ticking timebomb

In both the meat industry and from human to human we have great difficulty in controlling the spread of viruses, as evident from the fast transmission of COVID-19. We do not, however, seem to have these recurring issues with bacterial pathogens. A paper published in Science in 2019 estimated that 73% of antimicrobials used in low and middle income countries are used in farm animals².

Recent data from the UK suggests that one third of total antibiotic usage is in livestock, although regulatory bodies are working to try and reduce this number³. In the US, it is still legal to give antibiotics to farmed animals to promote growth and to prevent diseases.

As a consequence of antibiotic overuse, both in animals and in humans, antibiotic resistance is fast becoming a major issue within our healthcare systems. On the ward, microbiology reports increasingly demonstrate that a patient’s infection is resistant to all antibiotics; these cases are also known as the notorious ‘superbugs’.

We are finding that patients who were affected by Coronavirus often had pre-existing co-morbidities such as lung issues, or diabetes, which made them more susceptible to having bacterial infections superimposed on the virus.

Breeding grounds for future pandemics

Watching the hard-hitting vegan documentary Hogwood, I was appalled to see that buckets of strong antibiotics were being poured onto livestock’s food, when in my day to day clinical practice I might find that I have no effective treatment for a patient with an infection. Good antibiotic stewardship and limited use, both within healthcare and within the farming industry, will save many lives.

The conditions that we currently keep livestock in are breeding grounds for future pandemics. Even in the UK, farms attempt to keep too many animals in very small areas, where they are prone to catching diseases from each other.

Animals are often fed remains of other animals which may already be infected, or if carcasses are left in overcrowded cages then other animals may consume them, quickly transmitting infections. Zoonoses (infections transmitted from animals to humans) will become more prevalent as we try to mass produce food quickly and cheaply.

Factory farming is a hotspot for disaster, both for the environment, independent businesses and for our individual health. As consumers, we are the drivers for change, and we have the ability and responsibility to guide sustainable food production.

Disposable culture

Our unhealthy relationship with food was further emphasized throughout lockdown. As somebody who spent a lot of time eating at the hospital canteen I could not believe the photos that people were sending me of ransacked shelves and I remember having to advise elderly people who were unable to buy their essentials.

I remember seeing people fighting over pasta at 3am in the supermarket and the restrictions placed on what we can and can’t buy due to individuals stockpiling. (We now have a similar situation with vegetables due to global shortages attributed to unpredictable weather patterns.)

Ironically, I remember people hoarding meat products after we knew that these were the prime perpetrators of the strange times. Sadly, there was eventually another wave of photos emerging on social media of people’s overflowing food bins as they overbought items in anticipation of hard times ahead.

This highlights our disposable, waste culture even during times where we don’t know if the shelves will stock our next meal, or when others may be struggling to find food with financial or mobility issues. We must shift our attitude towards one where we eat mindfully.

Rising temperatures, extremes of climate and displacement of people means that there are likely to be new infectious diseases emerging in the future. We need to look out for each other as a collective community so that nobody struggles for essentials during times of need, as many people did.

Eating responsibly

There is enough food for everybody if we eat locally and responsibly. Many people were given the gift of time during lockdown and subsequently took up cooking, baking and becoming reconnected with what we put on our plates. Plus, there has been a movement for increasing support for individual markets and small businesses.

Saying that, some corporations demonstrated acts of kindness by delivering extra food to the elderly and to NHS workers at our busy hospitals. Food is something that we so often take for granted, and can make all the difference to our physical and mental wellbeing.

Having a strong immune system and a good nutritional baseline will be one of the most important things that we can do to protect against disease, and to reduce the severity of infections.

The Coronavirus pandemic demonstrated a lot of uncertainty, and a fast evolving situation in, ahem, ‘unprecedented times’- but one thing is clear: we need to become more conscientious regarding our food habits, on both an individual and a global level, in order to mitigate future harm.

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Featured image credit: william87 via Getty Images

References

1. Wordometer, COVID death tolls and trends. Available at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-toll/
2. Boeckel, Thomas P. Van; Pires, João; Silvester, Reshma; Zhao, Cheng; Song, Julia; Criscuolo, Nicola G.; Gilbert, Marius; Bonhoeffer, Sebastian; Laxminarayan, Ramanan (2019). Global trends in antimicrobial resistance in animals in low- and middle-income countries. Science.
3. Compassion in World Farming. Campaigns, Antibiotic Health Crisis. Online at https://www.ciwf.org.uk/our-campaigns/antibiotics-health-crisis/