Reality Cheques - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 64

incidence of food-borne illness is greater, perhaps because of the greater
industrialization of agriculture and, in particular, of livestock raising.
According to the US government's Centres for Disease Control, 76
million people in the US fall ill each year from food-borne illness, of
whom more than 300,000 are hospitalized and 5000 die. 33
The costs of food-borne illnesses are massive. The Institute for
Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences, the US Department of
Agriculture and the World Health Organization estimate such illnesses
in the US to cost between US$34 billion and US$110 billion per year.
In the UK, the government's Food Standards Agency estimates that each
of the annual 5 million cases of food poisoning costs on average UK£85,
comprising costs to health services and losses to businesses, putting the
annual cost at more than UK£400 million pounds. These data suggest
that one in four Americans and one in ten Britons suffer from food
poisoning each year. 34
Some of these food-borne illnesses arise from shellfish, others are
associated with mass catering or occur in the food processing chain. But
it is the initial sources of infection on the farm, combined with the overuse
of antibiotics for growth promotion, that is an increasing source of
disquiet. The concentration of livestock into factory feedlots, broiler sheds
and colossal pig units promotes infection and spread. As the WHO puts
it: 'The greatest risk appears to be the production of animal foods . It is from this source
that the most serious health threats originate, for instance, Salmonella, Campylobacter, E.coli
and Yersinia.' The pool of infection at the start of the food chain is now very
serious. The US Department of Agriculture has found very high levels
of microbial infections in US farm animals, particularly in broiler chickens
and turkeys. Clostridium has been found in 30 to 40 per cent of flocks,
Campylobacter in nearly 90 per cent, Salmonella in 20 to 30 per cent, and
Staphylococcus in 65 per cent. These levels of infection are matched in some
European countries, with more than 90 per cent of pig herds and nearly
50 per cent of cattle in the Netherlands and Denmark contaminated with
Campylobacter . At these levels of incidence in animals, it is hardly surprising
that illnesses from meat consumption are so common. Incidences of
illness in pigs and cattle in the US are much lower, but still a worrying 3
to 30 per cent of herds for these four pathogens. 35
This extraordinary problem, which underlies the desire for ever-cheaper
foods, is worsened by antibiotic resistance, brought on by overuse of
antibiotics for livestock growth promotion and over-prescription in
medicine. Twenty-three thousand tonnes of antibiotics are used in the US
each year, of which 11,000 are given to animals, four-fifths of which is
just for growth promotion. In the UK, 1200 tonnes of antibiotics are used
each year, 40 per cent of which is for humans, 30 per cent for farm