Sustainability II: Sustainable animal production and meat processing

Sustainable animal production is the effective and efficient rearing of livestock with positive (or neutral) socioeconomic and environmental outcomes. These can be achieved within extensive, intensive, or semiintensive production systems, depending on resource availability, agro-climates, and production purposes. Feed or nutritional management offers a viable means to enhance sustainability as it can improve animal productivity in many ways and help to mitigate the ecological impacts of animal production. Sustainable meat processing refers to the respectful conversion of an animal into a quality, nutritious and safe food for human consumption. National research, government, and policy-informing organizations must act holistically to translate production system research into practical (field-based) improvements that benefits the livelihoods of regional populations—as they produce the food for urban populations. Within a changing global climate, animal-human welfare and environmental protection are paramount to sustainability and must be center to any consideration of animal production and processing of meat.