A Scoping Review of “Wet Markets” and Their Risks to Public Health

Places widely known as "wet markets" have been identified as posing a risk to human health, since these food retail spaces are broadly considered to have unhygienic conditions and support the wild animal trade. While costly regulatory interventions into these markets have been proposed, there is little scientific consensus about responsibility for developing evidence about the risks of such markets or conducting surveillance of markets. The aim of this scoping review was to assess the empirical research that has been done using this term, "wet markets," in order to better understand the kinds of knowledge generated about places referred to as "wet markets" and to identify relevant policy recommendations related to these spaces. We conducted a scoping review searching PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases in March 2024 and identified 335 unique articles, 144 of which met inclusion criteria for final review. The majority of studies focused on the prevalence of pathogens in meat from domesticated sources and vegetables. Studies were predominantly conducted in Asia. Notably, this scoping review did not find any empirical studies on the wild animal trade alongside food trade at "wet markets." We did find distinct differences between narratives among Western public health institutions and empirical evidence on food safety and foodborne illness in Asia. Institutions concerned with health security and One Health should consider research designed to improve the evidence base for targeted interventions and strengthen surveillance in order to better respond to risks as well as better grasp their measurable magnitude.