Web Page Highlights Need for More Food Animal Veterinarians

September 12, 2007 — 

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has launched a new Web page in an ongoing effort to help bolster the ranks of those practicing food animal veterinary medicine.

The Web page, http://www.avma.org/fsvm/default.asp, is geared toward the varied stakeholders in the food animal veterinary medicine field, including practitioners, colleges of veterinary medicine, and state and industry associations. It will also help inform the general public, government officials and the media about the importance of veterinarians in maintaining a healthy and wholesome food supply.

"This Web page will play an integral role in what the AVMA and its many partners believe will be a unified effort in bringing greater public attention to the state of food animal veterinary medicine and what organizations are doing to answer a shortage in the number of food animal veterinarians," said Lyle Vogel, DVM, interim assistant executive vice president of the AVMA and a leading authority on the food animal veterinarian shortage.

A key component of the Web page is a series of maps created by the AVMA that provides a unique look at each state and how a lack of practitioners is hitting some areas of the country much harder than others.

The maps are the result of painstaking analysis by the AVMA Communications Division of data from the AVMA membership database and the United States Department of Agriculture that resulted in identification of counties in each state where few - if any - food animal veterinarians reside or have a practice located. The maps also identify counties where veterinarians may be located but their numbers may be insufficient to support the concentration of food animals located in that area.

While the United States food supply is one of the safest in the world, it is at risk because fewer veterinary school graduates are pursuing a career in food animal veterinary medicine. Many practitioners are finding it difficult to hire help or sell their practice. Today, only about 17 percent of veterinarians work in food animal medicine, while more than 70 percent of veterinarians work with companion animals.

"This first-of-its-kind Web page - and the content we have included for the benefit of all those involved with food animal veterinary medicine - comes out of a growing need for those of us in the veterinary community to do more to attract more students into the food animal field," Dr. Vogel said. "It's just one more example of how those in food animal medicine are working together to solve one of our nation's greatest needs - a safe and healthy food supply." Source: AVMA