Decision support systems for monitoring and maintaining health in food animal populations

To mitigate the effects of risks to food safety and infectious disease outbreaks in farmed animals, animal health authorities need to have systems in place to identify and trace the source of identified problems in a timely manner. In the event of emergencies, these systems will allow infected or contaminated premises (and/or animals) to be identified and contained, and will allow the extent of problems to be communicated to consumers and trading partners in a clear and unambiguous manner. The key to achieving these goals is the presence of an effective animal health decision support system that will provide the facilities to record and store detailed information about cases and the population at risk, allowing information to be reported back to decision makers when it is required. Described here are the components of an animal health decision support system, and the ways these components can be used to enhance food safety, responses to infectious disease incursions, and animal health and productivity. Examples are provided to illustrate the benefit these systems can return, using data derived from countries that have such systems (or parts of systems) in place. Emphasis is placed on the features that make particular system components effective, and strategies to ensure that these are kept up to date.