Antimicrobial Resistance: Part #1 - The General Gist

There is a growing danger as big as, but lesser known than, the looming threat of climate change: antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Defined by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) as “micro-organisms—bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites—[evolving] resistance to antimicrobial substances, like antibiotics”, AMR adversely affects food safety and security by rendering medicines much less effective or useless when it comes to treating infections. While it is difficult to quantify the full economic and health impact of AMR, the FAO estimates that global GDP will decrease by 2 to 3.5%, equivalent to USD100 trillion, by 2050, with up to 10 million human lives lost each year.

Generally, antimicrobials in agriculture are used by farmers in the livestock production and fish farming industries to treat sick animals, to prevent future disease from spreading amongst livestock, and to stimulate growth, usually via the feed and water provided to the animals. In plant agriculture, antibiotics are usually sprayed onto plants as a fine mist, although direct antibiotic application on crops is much more modest compared to its use in livestock (McManus et al., 2002); however, it should be kept in mind that indirect applications could still happen via the use of manure and wastewater already contaminated (Zhang et al., 2017).

The amount of animal consumption of antibiotics is rather eye-opening—in the United States throughout 2012 alone, 72.5% of the use of medically important antibiotics were found to have been for animals, with only 27.5% used by humans; in absolute figures, animal consumption of antibiotics was 8.9 million kg compared to human consumption of 3.4 million kg (FDA, 2012; IMS Health, 2012).

“When we have a flock and there’s a lot of sick chickens in that flock, the quickest way to get an antibiotic in them is to put it in the water. We do that through a system that proportions that water out uniformly through all of these water lines so that every drink, every drop has the correct amount of antibiotics.”

The same practices were later adopted in aquaculture, the difference being that antibiotic doses may be proportionally higher than doses in livestock (O’Neill, 2015). Residue from antimicrobials as well as undigested food and faeces containing unabsobed antimicrobials usually remain in the water and the surrounding sediments for an extended amount of time, with some studies further suggesting that 70 to 80% of antibiotics administered to fish are excreted into the water (Cabello et al., 2013; Burridge et al., 2010).

Pathways of AMR genes from closed and open aquaculture systems into the water and its surrounding environment (Watts et al., 2017).

In comparison, the antibiotic use for crops is relatively low, comprising only 0.36% of total agricultural antibiotic consumption (Smalla and Tiedje, 2014). While this resulted in much less attention given to antibiotic use in plants, the potentially extensive use of fungicide may be a source of concern since fungal diseases presents significant threat to crops (O’Neill, 2015).

It is quite undeniable that the issue of AMR is an increasingly alarming one. With news of bacteria developing new resistance to antibiotics and increasing resistance in animals such as dolphins, it is clear that, quoting author and journalist Maryn McKenna in her book Big Chicken, AMR is becoming “an overwhelming threat, created over decades by millions of individual decisions and reinforced by the actions of industries.” It would be interesting to see further developments in this area.

This is the first article of a multi-part series on the topic of antimicrobial use in the agri-food sector by Khor Reports.

Coronavirus issues for Food and Markets, Part #2

Continuing from our piece on the coronavirus impact on food and migrant workers, Pudu wet market became the one of the latest markets to be temporarily cordoned off beginning 15 May to facilitate Covid-19 check ups, while the TTDI market has been partially closed on 19 May as a precautionary measure. These closures followed a spike of 40 new Covid-19 cases on 14 May, 18 of which were from the vicinity of the Pudu market, leading to more than 500 foreign workers at the Pudu market and its surrounding areas undergoing health screenings. It is only recently that a larger portion of cases are from the migrant communities, with Malaysia recording 37 new Covid-19 cases, 22 of which involved foreign workers, on 19 May 2020. 

It is important to note that on the cumulative count, the DG has pointed out that half the Covid-19 cases originated from the Sri Petaling Mosque tabligh event. According to a Covid-19 tracker by Malaysiakini, notable clusters include the said tabligh event, the Malaysian students returning from the Al Fatah pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Indonesia, the KL wholesale market, the Bandar Baru Ibrahim Majid tahlil and wedding event, Sungai Lui, the Good News Fellowship Conference in Kuching, Sarawak, and the Selangor Mansion. Infection cases involving migrant workers appear to be primarily linked to the tabligh event, the KL wholesale market, and the Selangor Mansion. 

Nonetheless, Malaysia’s migrant situation, although undeniably worrying, has not reached the severity it has in Singapore, where about 15% of foreign workers live in 43 massive purpose-built dormitories. This presents interesting questions: could it be that Malaysia closed its borders in the nick of time or was it because migrant workers in the country do not live in these purpose-built dormitories? That being said, Malaysia’s recent immigration raids have discouraged many migrants from voluntarily coming forward to get screened for Covid-19 since many now justifiably fear deportation should they choose to do so.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has described the Covid-19 developments at the meat industry as “frightening news”. Source: DW.com/C. Thiel.

On the meat processing front, news from Europe, showing a disturbing mirror image of the meat packing plants in the US: an outbreak of Covid-19 cases in a slaughterhouse in Germany exposed the deplorable working conditions for migrants in the meat industry, where workers were often forced to work long hours and are housed in squalid, crowded quarters. The German Federal Labour Ministry acknowledged that the recent outbreaks in meat processing plants were most likely due to these working conditions and accommodations; Chancellor Angela Merkel further conceded that “there are considerable shortcomings, especially in housing”, stating that it was the responsibility of the local authorities to enforce occupational health and safety standards.

 It is worth mentioning again the common theme of migrant workforce, and Khor Reports had analysed Malaysia’s reliance on foreign labour in 2018 based on 2016 data. This time, an update on the analysis based on 2018 data revealed that the number of non-Malaysian citizens has increased from 3.2 million to 3.3 million—more specifically, a 92,700 increase—from 2016 to 2018.

Please include 1-2 line for each news reference:

• 18 Jun: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/06/17/Norway-squashes-speculation-that-salmon-was-source-of-fresh-Covid-wave-in-China

• 22 Jun: Beijing is halting chicken imports from where e.g. Tyson foods have workers sick China suspends imports of poultry from US-based Tyson plant. China’s customs authority said on Sunday it had suspended imports of poultry products from a plant owned by US-based meat processor Tyson. The company confirmed a cluster of coronavirus cases at facilities in Arkansas where a total of 481 people tested positive for the virus.

  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/22/china-suspends-us-poultry-imports-from-covid-19-affected-business

• 23 Jun: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/22/meat-plant-must-be-held-to-account-covid-19-outbreak-germany

• 24 Jun: good list of food chain -virus worries here... https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2020/06/23/2003738679

• 26 Jun: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/25/abattoir-air-cooling-systems-could-pose-covid-19-risks-expert-warns, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/06/26/Can-coronavirus-be-transmitted-via-meat-products, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/06/26/Appalling-conditions-blamed-for-spread-of-COVID-19-in-meat-sector

• 28 Jun: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/26/this-chart-shows-the-link-between-restaurant-spending-and-new-coronavirus-cases.html

• 1 Jul: Jakarta focus on traditional markets and commuter trains to control transmission: The city administration would also deploy military, police and administration officers to supervise the implementation of health protocol at traditional markets and on commuter trains, as those places had become hotbeds of transmission.... Officers would guard every entrance and exit of all 153 city-owned markets and 150 community markets in the capital and limit the number of visitors to 50 percent of the market’s capacity at any given time. In exchange, markets were allowed to return to their regular operating hours....https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/07/01/jakarta-extends-transition-phase-postponing-further-relaxation-by-14-days.html

• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-meat/mass-testing-at-jbs-brf-plants-in-center-west-brazil-town-reveals-more-than-1000-covid-19-cases-idUSKBN24423Q WSJ

• 6 Jul: U.S. farmworkers are catching the coronavirus. Virus cases are surging in the country's top regions for apple and cherry farming, despite regulations aimed at protecting farmworkers. Farms are now hiring fewer guest pickers and delaying their arrival.

• WSJ 6 Jul: Can restaurants survive a second blow? Eateries were devastated by the first round of pandemic lockdowns. As coronavirus cases surge again in the U.S., restaurants in a number of cities are bracing for another slowdown in sales, just as business had begun to pick up.

• CDC says US has 'way too much virus'to control pandemic... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/cdc-says-us-has-way-too-much-virus-to-control-pandemic-as-cases-surge-across-country.html

• 10 Jul: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3092717/frozen-shrimp-packaging-found-positive-coronavirus-risk-food

Consequences of Oil Palm Expansions - read of an academic article

A recent study on the environment, economic, and social consequences of oil palm plantations has been published in May 2020 by Matin Qaim et al. The article is useful—it collates research findings from other studies and paints a good overview of the issues with regards to oil palm expansions.

Some of the more interesting points in the article are as follows:

1. Total deforestation attributed to oil palm expansions across the world varies between countries. During the last 40 years, oil palm accounts for 47% of total deforestation in Malaysia and 16% in Indonesia. In Nigeria between 2005 and 2015, only 3% of total deforestation was due to oil palm expansion. Globally, approximately half of existing oil palm areas have contributed toward forest loss.

2. Oil palm plantations have strong adverse effects on local and regional air and water quality, especially if the land was establish using fire (and exacerbated by weather events such as the El Niño). Oil palm plantations have also been found to emit volatile organic compounds, promoting the production of haze and aerosol, as well as lowering regional water quality via the excess use of fertilisers.

3. Oil palm plantations have contributed significantly to rural economic development, generating income for farmers, labourers, and those involved in the oil palm supply chains. Generally, farm households across the world do economically better compared to farmers not involved in the cultivation of oil palm. Likewise, rural non-farm households also benefit, mainly in the form of additional employment opportunities due to the labour intensive nature of the industry.

4. There are legitimate concerns regarding unequal distribution of the economic benefits mentioned in the previous point, i.e. some farm households may have better access to capital and hence are able to adopt oil palm much easier than others. Social and human rights issues, including forced and child labour, are also a source of great concern.

5. The article highlights the difficulties faced in the oil palm discourse—it acknowledges that while banning the use of oil palm may help solve the environmental issues the crop brings in the short run, doing so now will result in a large economic loss, which in turn may lead to even larger environmental problems, since farmers will simply replace oil palm with another vegetable oil with higher land requirements per unit of output.

Coronavirus Boosting Plant-based Meat Products

An interesting consequence of the coronavirus pandemic: a surge in demand for plant-based meat. According to Nielsen, sales of plant-based meat in the US saw a jump of 264% in the nine weeks through 2 May 2020, which was further facilitated by collapsing supply chain of the more conventional meat such as beef and pork. The fact that faux meat facilities are less susceptible to outbreak diseases compared to the usual meat processing plants (primarily due to the former relying more on machinery and less on employees, which turn means that workers are not jam packed in close quarters like the latter) as well as their ability to ramp up production without needing to rely on animals to be ready for slaughter contributed toward the considerable increase in alternative meat options. Impossible Foods is already taking advantage of this opportunity—the company recently introduced its plant-based Impossible Burger at 1,700 Kroger and Kroger-owned stores throughout the United States, increasing its retail footprint by 18-fold.

Interestingly, the data also suggests that American consumers are losing interest in pastries and confectioneries—the sales for doughnuts, cupcakes and bread rolls and dessert platters have declined in the same period, with the demand for doughnuts plummeting the most at -45%. On the other hand, beans and legumes are fair game, with dried beans seeing an increase in demand by 140% in the same period, followed by kidney beans and chickpeas.

Now that many are de-confining and heading back to work, there are restrictions and caution about eating out. What are restaurants doing for the economic recovery? The shift of the best restaurant in the world, the two Michelin-starred Noma in Copenhagen from USD500 tasting menus to c. USD25 takeout burgers is a fascinating snippet. The two burger options are a cheeseburger and a quinoa-tempeh veggie burger.

Noma’s quinoa-tempeh veggie burger. Credit: Ditte Isager

Economic Recoveries after the Coronavirus

Another bit on the coronavirus, this time focusing on economic recovery predictions after the coronavirus pandemic. A swoosh recovery scenario is added into the growing realms of possibilities, with some experts agreeing that no matter how it recovers, there is nowhere for the economy to go but up; but changes are substantial. Here are some recent notable headlines:

Economist: Has covid-19 killed globalisation? The flow of people, trade and capital will be slowed

WSJ: In April, U.S. unemployment surged to 14.7%. Among women, the rate rose to 16.2%, compared with 13.5% for men. Economic shock hits lower-income households harder. Almost 40% of households earning less than $40,000 annually experienced at least one job loss in March, compared with 19% of households earning between $40,000 and $100,000, the Fed said.... U.S. retail spending fell a record 16.4% in April from a month earlier as consumers stayed home and demand plunged…. Germany fell into recession in the first quarter, with its gross domestic product shrinking by 8.6% on an annualized basis, but is nonetheless expected to fare better than its neighbors over the balance of 2020. The eurozone economy as a whole contracted by 14.2%, while the U.S. economy shrank by 4.8%.

#CovidEconomics #Covid19 #Economics #EconomicRecovery #Demand #BehaviouralChange

Covid-19 Boosts Vitamin C but Hits Retail in Hong Kong

Watson's Hong Kong has been hit by the pandemic but immunity boosting vitamins subcategory, such as vitamin C, as the retailer “saw first quarter sales jump over 40-fold year on year". Hong Kong’s retail sales in the first quarter, which fell by 36.9%, was the deepest year on year decline on record. This comes as the city remains mired in a recession. The economy contracted by 8.9% in the first quarter of this year, the worst on record, having been hit hard by months of anti-government protests, a trade war between the US and China, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s a #throwback to our post on online public interest in #turmeric and #vitamin C during the coronavirus outbreak.

The APPGM-SDG Multi-stakeholders Conversation: Building Local Economy in Urban Areas

On 29 April 2020, Segi Enam Advisors attended a Zoom talk on using the local economy as platform to support vulnerable communities in the urban areas, namely the B40 and migrants. Hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia-Sustainable Development Goals (APPGM-SDG), the talk highlighted the socio-economic issues faced by the two groups, with many of these problems aggravated by the spread of the coronavirus. It also explored the possibilities on how to cushion the blow the virus has had on the livelihoods of the B40 and migrants as well as the steps to stimulate the economy once the pandemic is over.

Several interesting points that stood out during the talk are as follows:

1. Low-cost flats intended to house the urban poor community should fulfil the social needs and livelihood of its residents, i.e. well-equipped facilities and reasonable distance from cities and townships where most residents are employed.

2. A community of “new poor” has emerged, i.e. individuals who have fallen into poverty due to a loss of income during the Movement Control Order (MCO) but were not qualified for financial aid prior to that loss of income.

3. The possibility of using the One Tambun One Product (OTOP) model implemented in Thailand, a local entrepreneurship stimulus programme supporting unique locally made and marketed products within each tambon (sub-district) across the country.

Coronavirus Impact on Food and Markets via Migrant Workers?

New developments amid Malaysia’s Covid-19 recovery phase: several markets in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor areas—namely the Selayang Wholesale Market, the Taman Megah wet market, the PJ Old Town wet market, and the Raja Bot market—have recently been temporarily closed down following reports of coronavirus infections. Interestingly, 10 foreign workers told to self-quarantine on 25 March after being found to have attended the Seri Petaling Mosque tabligh event were employed at the Selayang Wholesale Market. There are also rumours of uncertainties with regard to the testing results and SOPs for operating food markets.

The domino effect of market closures seems to have parallels with the meat packing plants in the US, where employees often work in close quarters under difficult environments; the infection rate around the plants were found to be 75% higher than that of other US counties. In an official statement dated 23 Apr 2020, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFWC) International Union disclosed that 13 processing plants have closed in the past two months, impacting over 24,500 workers (one-third of the US meatpacking industry are immigrants) and resulting in a 10% and 25% reduction in beef and pork slaughter capacity. USDA data reflects this reduced capacity, showing a decline of 27% and 20% in beef and pork processing respectively compared to this time in 2019. Various problems abound for the industry, including farmers considering euthanizing their animals to avoid overcrowding.

Migrant worker populations may be a common theme here. In 2018, Khor Reports has previously analysed Malaysia’s structural reliance on foreign labour based on 2016 data, which showed that Sabah’s share of foreign labour was the highest in the country at about 37%, followed by Selangor at 11%. An update on the most recent data will be conducted in due course.

Returning to the Covid-19 situation, in the case of the Malaysian capital’s wholesale market, approximately 16,000 Pusat Bandar Utara residents have been placed under a two-week Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) from 20 April, with around 90% of residents comprising foreigners. That being said, the Malaysian Health Director General reiterated that screening for foreign workers will be done on a targeted approach on high risk groups, and that screening for all six million workers is not possible.

Source: https://twitter.com/MelGohCNA/status/1254700504539488256

Interestingly, this latest statement on the number of foreign workers affirms our previous estimate of six million workers in 2018, which was derived from official and industry comments as seen in our report preview below.

A preview of our 2018 analysis report. Note our estimate of six million foreign workers, both documented and undocumented, in Malaysia at the bottom right.

The news has given rise to alarming hostility on social media against the Rohingya community—there were even online petitions urging the government to deport Rohingyas from Malaysia, with one purportedly garnering 200,000 signatures and was later removed after being reported as hate speech. The PN leadership has yet to address and reflect on their current policy regarding Myanmar refugees and the de facto open migrant policy.

While the virus problem has brought down air pollution (and may even be one of the drivers behind lower meat consumption), experts have warned that it could be only temporary, especially if no concerted efforts follow after the outbreak dies down. But the issue it has wrought for poor migrant communities may be longer lasting; integration and social cohesion have been identified to be potential issues in future thanks to the growing discrimination and scapegoat attempts—aggravated by misinformation and fake news—against these communities.

Online Public Interest: #Covid19 and #MilkTeaAlliance

Another #KhorReports infographic on #Covid19, this time on the #MilkTeaAlliance, a hashtag born out of an ongoing geopolitical virus blame game within Asia. With talks of a second wave of the virus, this event maybe be worth keeping an eye on.

Online Public Interest: Coronavirus and #Masks4All

Here are a couple of #KhorReports infographic on the #coronavirus. The first one is on the #Masks4All campaign (check out #Masks4All.org and #Masks4All.co) following the positive shift in public attitude towards masks despite initial ambivalence on the subject from public authorities. Also, there is a surge in public interest #self-help tips and tricks, such as consuming #vitamin C and #turmeric as well as DIY masks, as well as the emergence of face mask fraud cases in Malaysia.

The second infographic focuses on public interest in mask-wearing in three cities—Hong Kong, New York, and Singapore—and a throwback on mask usage during the Great Influenza of 1918. Also included is a brief update on #China as it gradually eases its #Coronavirus #lockdown.