Intensive livestock production and consumer health

Human lifespan is currently increasing by one month every year, thanks to better nutrition, hygiene and medicalization.

At the same time, an increase in pollution leads to chronic disorders that increase morbidity and mortality.

It is therefore to be feared that this increase in lifespan - and in general health conditions - will rapidly run out of steam as a result of rising concentrations of harmful agents in the environment, and in particular in foods of animal origin.

That's why it's essential to have a good understanding of the sources and mechanisms of contamination, so as to be better able to remedy the situation through prevention and, in some cases, treatment of the environmental components of the food chain. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of potentially dangerous contaminants.

Farmed animals are subject, at least as much as humans, to environmental changes and their repercussions on food chains.

The development of industrial livestock farming over the past 30 years or so has profoundly altered the conditions under which production animals are kept and fed, with the aim of minimizing production costs, in particular by lowering feed costs through ration optimization and the search for the lowest-priced raw materials.

The conditions under which plants are produced have also evolved considerably, with the aim of achieving the highest possible yields. To this end, in addition to genetic modifications enabling high performance, sometimes to the detriment of quality, the massive use of fertilizers and pesticides has led to the presence of residues in the food chain, which are then found in animal feed. In some cases, these residues have accumulated in their tissues, making them unsuitable for human consumption. These are toxic residues or "toxicants".

Concentrated factory farming, combined with genetic modification to achieve maximum production performance, has made animals more fragile, requiring the use of medicated feed and treatments that can leave residues in their tissues and thus end up in products consumed by humans.

We are going to try to measure the consequences, in particular toxicological, and for that, we will consider successively :

• distribution and metabolism of toxic substances in animals and toxicological limits in products of animal origin;

• the main toxic residues found in livestock feed and the toxicological risks for humans;

• the impact of livestock intensification on food quality.