OpinionCoronavirus: live animals are stressed in wet markets, making them more likely to carry diseases

World Health Organisation stated that although wet markets don’t need to close down, they should be prohibited from selling certain wildlife for food

There is therefore an opportunity to bring ‘clean meat’, which is grown synthetically from muscle cells, into the Chinese diet

4-MIN READ4-MIN

Workers cut beef in Shenzhen, Guangdong. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:04pm, 16 Apr 2020Updated: 3:19pm, 16 Apr 2020

In a controversial move, China recently reopened its wet markets, which sell fresh meat, produce and live animals. A wet market in Wuhan may have been the source of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has condemned the move, and the World Health Organisation reportedly stated that although wet markets don’t need to close down, they should be prohibited from selling illegal wildlife, such as pangolins and civet cats, for food, and food safety and hygiene regulations should be enforced.

The demand for meat and milk in China is growing rapidly. Nearly 1.5 billion people live in China, and each person eats, on average, about 2.5 times more meat than in the early 1990s. But unlike in the West – where well-established standards are dedicated to farm animal welfare – China has no animal welfare standards.

Poorly treated animals are stressed, and stressed animals are more likely to harbour new diseases because their immune systems are compromised.

This means these wet markets, where there are stressed animals in close contact with humans, are the perfect breeding ground for new diseases.

China urgently needs to restructure its animal industries for global food safety. “Clean meat” (meat grown from cells in a laboratory) offers hope – but more on that later.