Showing that We Care ® : One Health in Practice in the Swine Industry

Abstract

Pig farmers in the United States have a demonstrated historical and ongoing commitment to continuously improving pork production practices. This commitment includes employing One Health practices on their farms through the 6 We Care^® Ethical Principles (WECP). These principles are a producer-conceived, philosophical guidance for pork production that empowers and protects people who work on the farms and live in communities where pork is produced. Simultaneously, these principles safeguard the planet’s environment and natural resources and ensure the wellbeing of pigs themselves. As such, they directly align with One Health practices that recognize the connections between human, animal and environmental health. While historically, the One Health approach has been applied to emerging and reemerging zoonotic diseases, this approach is equally applicable across all aspects of pork production. Embedded within the US swine industry are programs such as Pork Quality Assurance^® Plus, Transport Quality Assurance^®, and the Common Swine Industry Audit. These education and certification programs employ One Health strategies in a way that has direct, “in-barn” application and ensure producers are following industry-established best practices. The One Health approach was implemented by the US swine industry in 2013, with the detection of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) for the first time in the US herd. This disease led to a herd mortality of up to 50% and significant reduction in the number of pigs produced in the United States during a 12-month period. The impacts of the virus were devastating and the response to it required an interconnected, multifaceted approach. We verify the use of a One Health approach through the application of the WCEPs by the US swine industry to respond to the 2013 PEDV outbreak.