Pigs, Biomes, and the Pork Peril: A One Health and One Welfare Meta-Narrative.

Abstract

Global pork production and consumption occupy a dominant yet insufficiently scrutinized position within modern food systems, with 1.5 billion pigs slaughtered each year, a staggering loss of animal life. This perspective synthesizes published evidence and opinion from microbiology, epidemiology, environmental science, and public health to examine risks associated with industrial pig production, including zoonotic pathogen emergence, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), environmental degradation, and chronic disease burdens. The classification of processed meat as carcinogenic by the World Health Organization reinforces the need for critical reassessment of pork-centric production and consumption systems. High-density pig farming amplifies microbial spillover, ecological pressure, and public health vulnerability through intensive resource use, antibiotic dependence, and waste externalities. The convergence of these risks within industrial swine systems warrants particular attention. Accordingly, transitioning both industrial pig production and processing toward less risk-intensive and more adaptable alternatives based on diversified, agroecological food systems entailing aquaculture, sustainable dairying, poultry, and plant-based food cultivation can provide pragmatic pathways to resilient, health-conscious, and sustainable food supplies that operate within planetary boundaries. This direction aligns with sustainable food policies and frameworks advanced by international governing bodies and directly operationalizes the integrated One Health and One Welfare frameworks.