The Future of the One Health Approach: From Tracing Foodborne Pathogens and Spoilers to Mobile Genetic Elements and from Farm to Fork via the Environment

Previous research has investigated the flux of the zoonotic pathogens, Salmonella and Campylobacter, from hatchery to slaughterhouse (for broilers) or to packing stations (for Salmonella spp. in eggs) to indicate the transmission from animals to humans. This approach can be regarded as a predecessor of the One Health approach and has enabled food production systems to identify the best interventions for controlling and preventing zoonotic foodborne contaminations. The One Health approach has now emerged as a common platform for effective control and prevention of the increasing antibiotic resistance in pathogens. It is, currently, building on a collaborative, multi-disciplined effort with close cooperation between physicians, veterinarians, and other scientific health and environmental professionals.

Several aspects will be important in the future direction of One Health: [1] The application of whole genome sequencing will reveal a more comprehensive understanding of how pathogens move between different reservoirs. This will be shown for the livestock-associated MRSA CC398 type. [2] The importance of characterizing and tracing mobile genetic elements, which can carry resistance genes (e.g., ESBL- or tetracycline resistance carrying plasmids or the recently discovered, transferable colistine resistance) and be transferred between different bacteria. [3] The discovery of other possibly transferable traits, such as high heat resistance in sporeformers located on mobile elements, which may become important to safe food production. [4] Finally, it will be important for the One Health approach to incorporate the agricultural environment as an equally important dimension in its scope, where the land application of manure is still largely unregulated in relation to food safety. Recent examples of the effect of application of manure on agricultural soil and of manure treatments on the release of pathogens, antibiotic residues, and resistance determinants will be shown because it is important to demonstrate how this environmental contamination contributes to the infection pressure of humans and animals.