On the farm, practicing veterinarians work to protect the health of animals that produce pork, eggs, poultry, milk, beef, lamb, fish, and other products. Prevention and control of disease are key elements in the practice of veterinary medicine, particularly in animal agriculture, where the focus is on population medicine. This concept of disease prevention and control through herd health is analogous to public health efforts. As veterinarians, charged ethically with promoting public health in addition to protecting animal health and welfare, we have great interest in the prevention, control, and treatment of disease.
Vigilance
Veterinarians who work for the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service have the necessary skills to recognize the wide variety of clinical signs in animals submitted for slaughter. Their duties and responsibilities include:
Surveillance for disease
Monitoring for disease that can increase shedding of bacteria such as Salmonella
Monitoring for disabled animals
Monitoring for signs that might indicate recent drug treatment or exposure to contaminants
Monitoring for disease that might serve as a risk to human health
Veterinarians have knowledge and experience in pathology, microbiology, and toxicology to evaluate human health hazards postmortem.
Guidance
At food processing plants, the veterinarian's responsibility is to oversee the entire process for food safety compliance and to assess risks. Veterinary medical skills enable veterinarians to assess and verify Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point food safety plans at production, processing, and retail levels to ensure safe meat and poultry.
Veterinarians also provide the oversight for laboratory analyses of processed meat samples, including supervision of laboratory personnel, oversight of equipment and scientific methods utilized, and evaluation of microbiological and chemical analyses.
At the retail and distribution level, corporate veterinarians provide food safety oversight for global food supply corporations. Their positions include oversight of programs and trade of animal commodities.
Federal veterinarians within the Food and Drug Administration also work to provide data to be used by the U.S. Trade Representative in free trade agreement negotiations.
Protection
Finally, Veterinarians are also the predominant, internationally recognized authority to audit and inspect foreign establishments that export animal foods to the U.S. For example, Air Force veterinarians evaluate food safety of local foods provided to military bases overseas. In addition, local public health departments have veterinarians who provide public health and food safety oversight in some jurisdictions.
Other ways veterinarians have roles in protecting our food supply include:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention veterinarians work in food safety outbreaks, in public health crises such as zoonotic disease epidemics, and in importation of animals and animal products.
USDA veterinarians also work in grant programs for food supply research, in policy development for regulatory oversight of the U.S. food supply, in executing specific disease eradication and control, and in approving animal vaccines.
FDA veterinarians work in new animal drug reviews and approvals, in identification of chemical and drug residues in foods derived from animals, in dairy and seafood safety and other foods derived from animals.
Veterinarians work as members of Congress, staff to Congress, and to the White House in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. They provide advice on veterinary medical and public health issues, some of which have impacts on the U.S. food supply.
Veterinarians at universities work to perform research to promote food animal production and to educate local producers on new food supply technologies and procedures.
Veterinarians working for individual states ensure that public health and agricultural regulations are followed.
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