ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Ancient DNA and Forensic Microbiology
This article is part of the Research TopicChemical and Biological WeaponsView all 7 articles
The urgent need for Biosecurity education within the Agribusiness Sector
Provisionally accepted
- London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom
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Biosecurity within the agribusiness sector is an often neglected and forgotten area. Biosecurity vulnerabilities within the sector hold significant global risks, of which are emphasised by the ever-growing threat of climate change, the presence of global conflicts, and the advancements made in science and technology. Biosecurity vulnerabilities also hold a multitude of public health (physical and psychological), environmental, economic and political consequences. In this paper, we systematically surveyed 199 university taught courses relating to agribusiness to determine as to what extent biosecurity risks were addressed. We found that only 4% of surveyed courses contained clear biosecurity elements, thus exhibiting a huge educational gap. Among these 4%, zero courses addressed agroterrorism, agro-crime or bioweapons, including the economical, physical, psychological and political implications. We therefore argue for the development of an internationally coordinated curriculum of which embeds biosecurity concepts into established courses. This will hugely enhance existing topics taught in courses to meet the urgent need in new circumstances derived by new science and technology.
Keywords: Agribusiness sector, biosecurity, BTWC, Curriculumn, Education
Received: 30 Oct 2025; Accepted: 28 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Shang and Ibbotson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lijun Shang
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