Issue Plant-based diets and cultivated meat reducing disease burden

Summary

Among the longer-term uncertainties for animal disease, the report sees a positive possibility in changing diets. If people move towards plant-based diets and lab-grown meat, demand for animal farming could fall. In the report's judgement, this could in turn reduce the burden of animal disease. By contrast, it warns that rising global meat consumption could expand livestock trade, worsen zoonotic outbreaks and possibly lead to a major human pandemic in the UK. The report also expects productivity gains from reduced disease to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and it records that more than 1.3 billion people worldwide depend on livestock for their livelihoods.