Issues / Public health
bodies, food and community
Public health
What our food system means for human and community health.
Quick answer
Our food system affects health through nutrition, food safety, antibiotic use on farms, and diseases that pass between animals and people. One modeling study estimated that about 73% of antimicrobial use worldwide in 2017 was in food-producing animals, and overuse is considered one driver of antimicrobial resistance.
Last reviewed . Sources are listed below.
the basics
What this issue covers
Our food system touches health in many ways: nutrition, food safety, the use of antibiotics on farms, and diseases that can pass between animals and people.
At the Humane Choices Foundation (HCF), we explain these links in plain language and point to the sources behind them, so you can follow the evidence yourself. Three in four newly emerging infectious diseases that threaten people originate in animals, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Farms matter here too. By one estimate, 73% of the world's antimicrobials were used in food-producing animals in 2017, and overuse helps drive the antimicrobial resistance that makes infections harder to treat.
dig in
Questions worth asking
Our guides on each question are being written. Every figure will come with a source.
- How does the food system affect nutrition and diet-related health?
- What is antibiotic resistance, and how does farming connect to it?
- How do diseases pass between animals and people?
- How is food safety regulated?
follow the thread
Where animals come in
Human health and animal health are closely linked, an idea often called One Health. Diseases move between animals and people, antibiotic use on farms affects the medicines we all rely on, and research on animals is part of how new treatments are developed.
Farmed land animals
By one estimate, about 73% of antimicrobial use worldwide was in food-producing animals in 2017.
Companion animals
Pets and people share homes, and some diseases, which is why vet care and vaccinations matter.
Animals in science
Animals are used to develop and test medicines, and alternatives are a growing part of health research.
by the numbers
What the evidence says
Every figure links to its source. See all of them on our facts and sources page.
73%
CIDRAP, reporting on the PLOS Global Public Health study and the WOAH annual report 2017 estimate
81,000+ tonnes
WOAH annual report on antimicrobial agents intended for use in animals, via CIDRAP 2021 data
3 in 4
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, One Health Day 2020 2020
quick answers
Frequently asked questions
What is antimicrobial resistance?
When bacteria and other germs stop responding to the medicines that once killed them, which makes infections harder to treat.
How are farm animals connected to it?
The World Organisation for Animal Health reports that overuse of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals is considered one of the forces contributing to rising antimicrobial resistance.
Is antibiotic use in animals growing?
WOAH reported a 2% rise between 2019 and 2021, after several years of decline. Nearly 20% of reporting countries still used antimicrobials as growth promoters in 2021.
What is a zoonotic disease?
A disease that can pass between animals and people. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says three in four newly emerging infectious diseases that threaten people originate in animals.
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