A new unit in Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety at The University of Sydne

Summary

There is a national deficiency in capacity to predict, prevent and manage emerging product integrity threats to the red meat sector. The current project aimed to capitalize on the established partnership between the University of Sydney and MLA through additional co-investment, specifically to address the pressing needs in veterinary public health and food safety which underpin international Market compliance and competitiveness of Australian red meat. While effort is made in Australia to respond to threats, it is fragmented across jurisdictions and constrained by both manpower and mandate issues within the various agencies. Consequently there is risk of system failure in the event of concurrent threats or rapidly changing market requirements. It is estimated that 97% of Australia's red meat exports currently supply key, high value, Pacific Rim markets where prices are maintained through consumer expectations of product safety, as well as taste and tenderness. Consequently the gross value of product of Australia's red meat sector is highly sensitive to threats to product integrity. National preparedness to meet current and future threats may be insufficient to guarantee continued access to these markets.
Overseas countries who are competitors or potential competitors for Market compliance have invested heavily in research and training in the university sector, specifically in the areas of veterinary public health and food safety. Maintenance of Australia?s favoured trading position cannot be taken for granted. In the past decade we have been increasingly asked to defend our import restrictions and demonstrate our animal health status (eg transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) and the capacity of our animal health services. We have also had to deal successfully with new infections such as Hendra virus and bat lyssavirus. Food safety issues remain critical to the export of red meat and domestic consumption.
Emerging issues include E.coli O157 and antimicrobial resistance. A sound understanding of our animal health situation, underpinned by solid data analysis and information that we can use to develop international protocols and our own import/export agreements, is becoming critical to maintaining and enhancing our trading position. In turn, the profitability of our livestock production, processing and marketing sectors depend on this. We must also maintain a capacity to identify, investigate and efficiently control exotic and emerging diseases that could otherwise severely affect production and marketing of our animal products or potentially human health.