Consumer Information

What Consumers Need to Know
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) agree that foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is not a threat to public health, nor does it affect the safety of meat or pasteurized milk and dairy products sold in supermarkets.

However, an outbreak of FMD in the United States would pose a very serious threat to animal health and the U.S. economy. Analysts estimate that an FMD outbreak in the United States could cost the country’s livestock industry billions of dollars in the first year. Such a major economic hardship in the livestock industry would significantly affect the food, transit and processing industries and ultimately threaten the entire U.S. economy.

For these reasons, we encourage consumers to be fully informed about FMD. In this section, you will find information about disease prevention measures in place as well as information about actions consumers can take to help prevent an FMD outbreak in the United States.

See the following links for more information for consumers about FMD disease:

Videos
Resources and Links
Learn more about FMD