The economic effects of policies resulting from animal and poultry disease outbreaks can be much greater and longer lasting than the immediate effect of the outbreak itself.
This was said in a recent report by the USDA’s ERS, which aims to demonstrate the pervasiveness of restrictive feed policies and regulations, particularly as they relate to meat and bone meal and other protein feeds.
Costs evaluated include those assumed by consumers via changes in supplies of secondary and final products; environmental costs associated with disposal of hazardous materials; lost value of products to the rendering industry, including a decline in value of meat and bone meal; and costs of supply disrup¬tions and substitutions within the feed market sector. Benefits from new or amended policies accrue but are not easily measured.