Industrial Animal Farming and Zoonotic Risk: COVID-19 as a Gateway to Sustainable Change? A Scoping Study

Wolfgang Brozek and Christof Falkenberg
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Wolfgang Brozek: Agency for Preventive and Social Medicine, 6900 Bregenz, Austria
Christof Falkenberg: Institute for Marketing and Innovation, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1180 Vienna, Austria

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-30

Abstract: The threat of zoonoses (i.e., human infectious diseases transmitted from animals) because of industrial animal farming may be receiving less attention in society due to the putative wildlife origin of COVID-19. To identify societal responses to COVID-19 that do address or affect the risk of future zoonoses associated with industrial animal farming, the literature was screened for measures, actions, proposals and attitudes following the guidelines of a scoping review. Forty-one articles with relevant information published between 1 January 2020 and 30 April 2021 were identified directly or indirectly via bibliographies from 138 records retrieved via Google Scholar. Analysis of relevant content revealed ten fields of policy action amongst which biosecurity and change in dietary habits were the dominant topics. Further searches for relevant records within each field of policy action retrieved another eight articles. Identified responses were furthermore classified and evaluated according to groups of societal actors, implying different modes of regulation and governance. Based on the results, a suggested policy strategy is presented for moving away from food production in factory farms and supporting sustainable farming, involving the introduction of a tax on the demand side and subsidies for the development and production of alternative meat.

Keywords: COVID-19; industrial livestock farming; factory farming; zoonoses; zoonotic risk; societal responses; zoonotic tax; alternative meat (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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