Author: Laura Dell'Antonio
Background
The Swine Health Protection Act was passed in 1980 after vesicular exanthema, a highly transmissible viral swine disease, became widespread in the United States in the 1950s. The Act was passed to provide guidelines on the feeding of human food waste to pigs. It requires farmers to have a license to feed pigs human waste that contains or has had contact with meat, poultry, or fish, regardless of where the food has been collected. To ensure pathogens are killed, such as the African Swine Fever virus and the Foot and Mouth Disease virus, the waste must be heated to 100°C for 30 minutes. To receive a license, producers must demonstrate appropriate cooking and handling of garbage and undergo regular inspections by APHIS or state employees.
Although permitted by federal law, garbage feeding is currently prohibited in 23 states, including Iowa, the nation's biggest pork producer. The practice is permitted in the remaining 27 states, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. There are currently no data available on the consumption-stage food waste fed to production animals, but the number of licensed producers has decreased; in New Jersey between the 1960s and 1994, the number of licensed feeders declined from 250 to 36.
The U.S.’s pork industry is worth $23 billion; hence, preventing disease outbreaks is crucial for food security and economic stability.
Disease Prevention
The primary purpose of the Swine Health Protection Act is the prevention of disease outbreaks. Between 1870 and 1993, 66% of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreaks were attributed to contaminated meat, meat products, or garbage. Although there has not been a recent outbreak of FMD in the United States, the severity of the disease and the potential for an outbreak to cause harm, as well as economic damage, means that it still presents an area of significant concern.
The 2001 outbreak of FMD in the UK cost the national treasury £2.7 billion (compensation for farmers for animal slaughter control and welfare reasons, as well as eradication measures). In addition to these direct costs, the outbreak resulted in a decrease in tourism and impacted other rural industries, the impacts of which are estimated to amount to losses of several billion pounds. This outbreak was ultimately traced back to a pig fattening unit in Northumberland, which fed pigs on waste food. However, it is still unclear how the FMD virus entered the UK as there were no epidemics in the European Union, suggesting the virus must have been imported from another part of the world.
Although African Swine Fever (ASF) has never been reported in the United States, it is still of great concern as it kills nearly every infected pig, is highly transmissible, and there is no vaccine available. The USDA says that low inspection rates at ports of entry increase the likelihood of illegal pork entering the country, and given the virus has been shown to have the ability to survive in swine products for weeks, this is of great concern. An outbreak simulation designed to evaluate the U.S.’s readiness to respond demonstrated a need to increase the country’s capacity to test pigs for disease quickly and safely dispose of the animals to prevent further spreading of the virus.
Worldwide, the most recent outbreak of ASF is located in East Asia, with first reports emerging from China in August 2018 and cases having since spread to at least 12 other countries in the area. This outbreak has resulted in the loss of over 40% of China's pig stock and the preventative killing of a quarter of the global pig population, equating to a $141 billion loss by the start of 2020. More than one-third of the 68 outbreaks studied in China have been traced back to pigs that were fed contaminated food waste. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FOA) has called for the prohibition of garbage feeding where feasible or for strict regulations governing garbage feeding where other feeding options are scarce. A study from Iowa State University and BarnTools estimated that an ASF outbreak in the U.S. could cost $14 billion over two years and as much as $50 billion over ten years.
Although both of these diseases have not been detected in the U.S. for an extended period of time or ever, the cases of FMD and ASF described demonstrate how easily the viruses can be transmitted, both nationally and internationally. Considering both of these outbreaks were traced back to contaminated food waste being fed to pigs, it strongly supports the argument to prohibit garbage feeding federally.
Sustainability
On the other hand, garbage feeding is one of the most sustainable ways to deal with food waste. The EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy consists of actions organizations can take to prevent and divert wasted food. In this hierarchy, reducing wasted food by feeding animals is the third tier (out of six). Annually enough food is thrown away to feed 1 billion people, and especially in developing countries, the largest proportion of this is from the consumer stage of the food system. In the US, 47.2 million tons out of the total 57.2 million tons of food waste come from the consumer stage, of which three quarters end up in landfills.
Historically, garbage feeding was a widespread practice, but farmers moved away from it over the years to increase productivity. In the U.S., nearly half of the total acreage of cropland and amounts of irrigation water and fertilizer is used to produce meat, eggs, and dairy. Increasing the amount of food waste used to feed pigs would decrease the amount of agricultural land needed and significantly decrease water usage and fertilizer use.
It is worth noting that in Europe, the relegalization of garbage feeding could reduce the cropland associated with European pork production by 1.8 million hectares and that currently, the cost of the damage to the environment per kilogram of pork produced is €1.90, which is over 40 cents higher than the production cost for the farmer. Therefore, integrating more sustainable measures, one of which is garbage feeding, would substantially reduce the strain on the environment.
Cost and Logistics
A further advantage of garbage feeding is the cost-benefit for both the waste producer and the farmer; the cost associated with waste disposal can be eliminated by providing the food waste to farmers while the farmer can reduce their spending on food for the swine. Although there is a reduced feed cost associated with integrating food waste, converting the waste to animal feed may not be economically self-sustaining. Additionally, most food waste is high in moisture, which means it is prone to spoilage and requires timely collection and proper handling.
However, some countries have successfully managed to increase their amount of food waste used for animal feeding. In South Korea, 45% of all food waste is treated for animal feeding, and sending food waste to landfills is banned. They have created central processing locations for conversion into animal feed, including many locations close to urban environments where a lot of raw food waste originates. Japan is another country that recycles more than 40% of its food waste for animal feed; however, they mainly use food manufacturing byproducts, surplus groceries, and wholesale foods.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Although garbage feeding is associated with the spread of certain diseases, it is a sustainable and cost-efficient way to feed swine. Hence, the evidence suggests that with strict guidelines, like the ones in the Swine Protection Act, garbage feeding is a safe practice, which will decrease human-caused negative impacts on the environment. However, to increase the practice safely, legislation is necessary. Ideally, on top of banning organic waste from landfills, at least a proportion of industry food waste, and preferably also consumer stage food waste, should be required to go into animal feed. Moreover, tax incentives should be given to animal producers who choose to use recycled feed, such as tax deductions or tax exemptions for recycling equipment. Although tax incentives have been implemented for business owners, no such incentives have been provided for food waste incentives. Incentives would hopefully also encourage entry into this market, which has high barriers to entry due to the initial high fixed costs of obtaining the equipment needed to properly follow the standards stated in the Swine Health Protection Act.
Furthermore, increasing disease surveillance and improving protection will reduce the risk associated with garbage feeding. Increasing inspections at ports of entry are required to lower the likelihood of contaminated pork entering the country. Alongside the U.S. increasing capacity to test pigs for disease quickly and to safely dispose of infected animals to stop the spread, these measures should ensure the risk associated with garbage feeding to decrease substantially.
To create a sustainable future, it is essential to include methods for food recycling as landfilling is not a suitable long-term solution. Increasing the production of animal feed from food waste and the demand for it from farmers will benefit all stakeholders in the long run.
This article was prepared by the author in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the view of their place of employment.
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