Feed manufacturers and other trade organisations have welcomed a European Commission announcement of funding to defeat key human diseases but said more investment is needed to prevent losses through animal diseases.
The comments from organisations, such as FEFAC, Copa-Cogeca, AVEC, CEJA and FEAP, follow the European Commission’s announcement to invest €700 million to the Global Fund to defeat HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, €46.5 million to strengthen health security in Africa and Europe, and €50 million in research and development for AMR and neglected tropical diseases.
They said the One Health Summit sent a clear signal that health, food systems and the environment are deeply interconnected, and prevention must be at the heart of future policies. Investments in global health must include investments in animal disease prevention, as preventing zoonotic diseases in animals was not only more cost-efficient but also helped prevent zoonotic spillover to human populations
Animal disease prevention strategized
The organisation said they would take this opportunity to reiterate the call for an urgent mindset change and to make animal disease prevention a strategic investment for the EU and beyond. With the devastating animal disease outbreaks increasing in frequency and severity over recent years, momentum is growing to move to a system where biosecurity, vaccination, animal feeding and breeding strategies to enhance resilience, and surveillance for early detection are the first port of call for disease preparedness, prevention and control, and mass culling is the last resort.
“Our call aligns with recommendations from the European Parliament and the European Council, and with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) at the global level, which have all called for urgent changes to current animal disease control practices. The WOAH resolution published in May 2025 urges increased transparency, harmonised standards, and stronger public-private partnerships to improve vaccine access, particularly in line with the UN Political Declaration on AMR, which calls for national animal vaccination strategies by 2030. The One Health Summit recommendations add to these calls, stating: “The prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases require a fundamental shift toward primary prevention at the high-risk interfaces between humans, animals, and their shared environment.”
Disease outbreaks disrupt farming
Between 2023 and 2025, WOAH reported that 547 million poultry were lost due to High Pathogenic Avian Influenza. And in 2025, a single case of foot- and-mouth disease (FMD) in buffalo cost the German economy an estimated €1 billion in both direct disease control costs and indirect costs through trade restrictions. This does not need to be the norm as animal disease outbreaks not only cause additional work to manage the disease, but also completely disrupt the day-to-day activities of farming communities, they said.
Not all animal diseases are preventable, but when solutions exist, such as vaccines to prevent disease and avoid animal culling, their use and implementation should not be hindered by political or trade-related barriers.
Calls for preventive action
With this in mind, the organisation is calling for the EU to:
- Prioritise investment in preventive measures, and ensure harmonised and adequately funded national disease surveillance, control and vaccination strategies and encourage development and access to nutritional solutions to support animal resilience, and breeding for robustness and disease resistance.
- Strengthen veterinary services and ensure Animal Health Law visits are properly implemented across all Member States, as a vital tool for implementing preventive measures such as biosecurity, surveillance, feeding strategies and vaccination planning.
- Foster vaccine innovation and availability, including DIVA-compatible vaccines, supported by regular dialogue between manufacturers and the authorities.
- Promote international acceptance of preventive vaccination, ensure policies keep pace with innovation, and encourage use of the status ‘disease-free with vaccination’ to reduce trade barriers.
- Replace—where possible—mass culling with biosecurity, surveillance for early detection and specifically vaccination, as the cornerstones of animal disease prevention and control.
Investment ensures sustainable farming
Farmers, veterinarians, breeders, livestock traders, feed manufacturers, animal health and sanitary experts, and the animal medicines and diagnostics sector all agree that investing in preventive care offers a smarter, more sustainable solution for the European farming model. Working together on these actions with the authorities, we can safeguard animal and human health, protect our farming communities and economies, and ensure sustainable food production. We need to enable and incentivise the full use of the available tools and make animal disease prevention a strategic investment for the EU and Europe as a whole, for the ‘prevention is better than cure’ edict to become reality in practice.
One health requires preventive approach
Moving from a reactive approach in animal disease control to a preventive approach is a necessary paradigm shift, in line with the global One Health approach, which aims to address the full spectrum of disease control – from disease prevention to detection, preparedness, response, and management – and to improve and promote health and sustainability, the group added.
