About the Animal and
Plant Health Agency

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We are always looking for talented people to join us here at APHA. Find out more about our current vacancies and apply today.

People who work for the Animal and Plant Health Agency all play their part in working to safeguard animal and plant health through:

Identifying and controlling endemic and exotic diseases and pests in animals, plants and bees, and surveillance of new and emerging pests and diseases.

Scientific research in areas such as bacterial, viral, prion and parasitic diseases and vaccines, food safety; and acting as an international reference laboratory for many farm animal diseases.

Facilitating international trade in animals, products of animal origin, and plants.

Protecting endangered wildlife through licensing and registration.

Managing a programme of apiary (bee) inspections, diagnostics, research and development, training and advice.

Regulating the safe disposal of animal by-products to reduce the risk of potentially dangerous substances entering the food chain.

APHA has a long standing reputation as a world leading centre of veterinary science expertise and this is acknowledged by our status as a National and International Reference Laboratory for a wide range of infectious and non-infectious diseases in animals.

Our laboratories provide veterinary, plant and bee health and scientific consultancy to countries around the world.

Much of APHA’s scientific activity is focused on protecting the UK against the threat and impact of a wide variety of plant and animal diseases and other species conflicts. Many of these diseases are zoonotic, which means that the infection is transmitted from animals to humans.