— OPINION — In response to FDA’s “Southwest Agricultural Region Environmental Microbiology Study (2019 – 2024)” the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association wrote, “Clearly, more scientific data is needed...
” (1) . I disagree, there is a plethora of scientific data in the FDA study plus the considerable body of scientific data published in the past two decades. Those data demonstrate that the carriage of enteric zoonotic pathogens by cattle swine and poultry is an environmental and public health hazard.
More delay means more illnesses, costs, and deaths. * https://www.fda.
gov/food/environmental-studies/southwest-agricultural-region-environmental-microbiology-study-2019-2024 A recent review (2) also concluded more research is needed. The authors wrote, “Although the collected information regarding the proximity of cattle is a concern, data gaps indicate that more studies should be conducted to determine the relative contribution of different mechanisms of contamination and generate quantitative data to inform food safety risk analyses, regarding leafy greens produced nearby livestock areas.” This and the Cattlemen’s statement is a classic example of rather than make a decision on current information, “Let’s wait until we have more information, and more, .
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There are interventions for runoff from CAFOs (3) but they don’t inhibit airborne and other vectors (4). For more information read the references in (4), copy the title into Google Scholar, an.
